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Oldest surviving Vauxhall for sale

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 20 Oktober 2012 | 11.25

The oldest surviving Vauxhall car will go under the hammer next month. Source: AAP

THE oldest surviving Vauxhall car will go under the hammer next month.

The 1903 two-seater 5hp veteran is expected to fetch between STG60,000 ($A93,472) to STG80,000 ($A124,630) when its goes on sale at auctioneers Bonhams in central London.

It is one of several classic cars to be auctioned ahead of this year's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

Tim Schofield, director of the Bonhams UK Motor Car department, said: "This is the first time in 108 years this historic landmark vehicle has been offered on the open market.

"We believe it is the oldest surviving Vauxhall, which makes it a very important motor car and a great addition to what is shaping up to be a fantastic auction at our flagship salesroom in early November."

The car was first ordered for Vauxhall managing director Percy Kidner on November 6, 1903.

It passed to its second owner in April the following year and has remained in the family's ownership ever since.

The two-seater, modelled in cream with brown leather upholstery, continued to be used for regular transport until about 1920.

It was kept in storage until 1948 before being loaned to The London Science Museum in 1955.

The car then completed the London to Brighton Run in 1956 in a time of three and a half hours.

The vehicle underwent major refurbishment between 2001 and 2002 and has seen minimal use since that time.

Others cars on sale at the auction include a 1904 Richard Brasier 16hp Four-Seat Side-Entrance Tonneau, which is expected to fetch between STG220,000 ($A342,732) and STG300,000 ($A467,362).

A 1904 Wolseley 12hp Twin-Cylinder Tonneau has an estimated price range of STG100,000 ($A155,787) to STG150,000 ($A233,681) and a 1904 Wilson-Pilcher 12/16hp Four-Seater, built by the inventor of the tank, could be bought for between STG180,000 ($A280,417) to STG220,000 ($A342,732).

The auction takes place on Friday November 2 at Bonhams in New Bond Street, central London.


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Social media growing in US politics: study

NEARLY two out of five US adults use social media to get involved in politics, with the younger crowd and the ideologically committed especially active, a study showed Friday.

The Pew Research Center study showed that 60 per cent of adults use social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter and that two-thirds of these - 39 per cent of all US adults - use social media for civic or political activity.

Social media users who talk about politics on a regular basis or who have firm ideological ties are the most likely to be active on the sites, the study found.

And those aged 18-29 are "notably more likely than older users to have posted their own comments, as are those who have at least some college experience," Pew said.

"Now that more than half of adults use social media, these technologies have worked their way into the rhythms of people's lives at many levels," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

"At the height of the campaign season, it is clear that most social media users, especially those who care about politics, are using the tools to debate others, stay in touch with candidates, flag political news stories and analysis that are important to them, and press their friends into action. We'll see the fruits of this neo-activism on Election Day."

About 35 per cent of social media users have used the tools to encourage people to vote, the study showed, with Democrats (42 per cent) holding an edge over Republicans (36 per cent) and independents (31 per cent).

Around a third post their own comments or thoughts, or re-post content from someone else.

About 21 per cent of those using Twitter or other social media belong to a group on a networking site that is involved in political or social issues, or working to advance a cause.


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Early look at Windows 8 baffles consumers

THE release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is a week away, and consumers are in for a shock.

Windows, used in one form or another for a generation, is getting a completely different look that will force users to learn new ways to do things.

Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer.

Windows 8 is supposed to tie together Microsoft's PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it's a move that risks confusing and alienating customers.

Tony Roos, an American missionary in Paris, installed a free preview version of Windows 8 on his ageing laptop to see if Microsoft's new operating system would make the PC faster and more responsive.

It didn't, he said, and he quickly learned that working with the new software requires tossing out a lot of what he knows about Windows.

"It was very difficult to get used to," he said.

"I have an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, and they never got used to it. They were like, 'We're just going to use Mom's computer."'

Windows 8 is the biggest revision of Microsoft Corp's operating system since it introduced Windows 95 amid great fanfare 17 years ago.

Ultimately, Windows grew into a $US14 billion a year business and helped make former Chief Executive Bill Gates the richest man in the world for a time.

Now, due to smartphones and tablets, the personal computer industry is slumping.

Computer companies are desperate for something that will get sales growing again. PC sales are expected to shrink this year for the first time since 2001, according to IHS iSuppli, a market research firm.

The question is whether the new version, which can be run on tablets and smartphones, along with the traditional PC, can satisfy the needs of both types of users.

"I am very worried that Microsoft may be about to shoot itself in the foot spectacularly," said. Michael Mace, the CEO of Silicon Valley software startup Cera Technology and a former Apple employee.

Windows 8 is so different, he said, that many Windows users who aren't technophiles will feel lost, he said.

Microsoft is releasing Windows 8 on October 26, and it doesn't plan to cushion the impact. Computer companies will make Windows 8 standard on practically all PCs that are sold to consumers.

Speaking to Wall Street analysts on Thursday, Microsoft's chief financial officer Peter Klein said he isn't very concerned that user confusion could slow the adoption of Windows 8.

When Microsoft introduces new features, he said, people eventually realise that "those innovations have delivered way more value, way more productivity and way better usability." That's going to be true of Windows 8 too, he said.

Instead of the familiar Start menu and icons, Windows 8 displays applications as a colourful array of tiles, which can feature updated information from the applications.

For instance, the "Photos" tile shows an image from the user's collection, and the "People" tile shows images from the user's social-media contacts. (Microsoft is licensed to use AP content in the Windows 8 news applications.)

The tiles are big and easy to hit with a finger - convenient for a touch screen.

Applications fill the whole screen by default - convenient for a tablet screen, which is usually smaller than a PC's.

The little buttons that surround Windows 7 applications, for functions like controlling the speaker volume, are hidden, giving a clean, uncluttered view. When you need those little buttons, you can bring them out, but users have to figure out on their own how to do it.

"In the quest for simplicity, they sacrificed obviousness," said Sebastiaan de With, an interface designer and the chief creative officer at app developer DoubleTwist in San Francisco.

Technology blogger Chris Pirillo posted a YouTube video of his father using a preview version of Windows 8 for the first time.

As the elder Pirillo tours the operating system with no help from his son, he blunders into the old "Desktop" environment and can't figure out how to get back to the Start tiles. (Hint: Move the mouse cursor into the top right corner of the screen, then swipe down to the "Start" button that appears, and click it. On a touch screen, swipe a finger in from the right edge of the screen to reveal the Start button).

The four-minute video has been viewed more than 1.1 million times since it was posted in March.

"There are many things that are hidden," said Raluca Budiu, a user experience specialist with Nielsen Norman Group.

"Once users discover them, they have to remember where they are. People will have to work hard and use this system on a regular basis."

Mace, the software CEO, has used every version of Windows since version 2.0, which came out in 1987.

Each one, he said, built upon the previous one. Users didn't need to toss out their old ways of doing things when new software came along. Windows 8 ditches that tradition of continuity, he said.

"Most Windows users don't view their PCs as being broken to begin with. If you tell them 'Oh, here's a new version of Windows, and you have to relearn everything to use it,' how many normal users are going to want to do that?" he asked.

The familiar Windows Desktop is still available through one of the tiles, and most programs will open up in that environment. But since the Start button is gone, users will have to flip back and forth between the desktop and the tile screen.

There's additional potential for confusion because there's one version of Windows 8, called "Windows RT," that looks like the PC version but doesn't run regular Windows programs. It's intended for tablets and lightweight tablet-laptop hybrids.

Budiu believes the transition to Windows 8 will be most difficult for PC users, because Microsoft's design choices favor touch screens rather than mice and keyboards. Alex Wukovich, a Londoner who tried Windows 8 on a friend's laptop, agrees.

"On a desktop, it just felt really weird," he said. "It feels like it's a tablet operating system that Microsoft managed to twist and shoehorn onto a desktop."

Not everyone who has tried Windows 8 agrees with the critics.

Sheldon Skaggs, a Web developer in Charlotte, N.C., thought he was going to hate Windows 8, but he needed to do something to speed up his 5-year-old laptop. So he installed the new software.

"After a bit of a learning curve and playing around with it a bit more, you get used to it, surprisingly," he said.

The computer now boots up faster than it did with Windows Vista, he said.

Vista was Microsoft's most recent operating-system flop.

It was seen as so clunky and buggy when released in 2007 that many PC users sat out the upgrade cycle and waited for Windows 7, which arrived two and a half years later.

Companies and other institutions wait much longer than consumers to upgrade their software, and many will keep paying for Windows 7. Many companies are still using Windows XP, released in 2001.

Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial, is optimistic about Windows 8, pointing out that it's snappy and runs well on PCs with limited processing power, making it suited for compact, tablet-style machines. But he also notes that through Microsoft's history, roughly every other operating-system release has been a letdown.

Intel Corp makes the processors that go into 80 per cent of PCs, and has a strong interest in the success of Windows.

CEO Paul Otellini said on Tuesday that when the company has let consumers try Windows 8 on expensive "ultrabook" laptops with touch screens, "the feedback is universally positive."

But he told analysts that he doesn't really know if people will embrace Windows 8 for mainstream PCs.

"We'll know a lot more about this 90 days from now," he said.


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Mount Gibson cuts 270 jobs on iron price

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 18 Oktober 2012 | 11.25

VOLATILE iron ore prices have forced Mount Gibson Iron to slash 270 jobs, sending the company's share price almost 20 per cent lower.

Most of the cuts, which include 140 contractors, will be made at the company's Koolan Island operation off Western Australia's north Kimberley coast.

The iron ore miner, which announced a review of its expenditure in August, said cost-saving initiatives would eliminate or defer between $120 million and $150 million in capital and operating expenditure.

In a bid to reduce non-essential or discretionary spending, the company also announced the board and senior executive management have agreed to a 10 per cent reduction in their total remuneration packages for the financial year.

Shares in the company were 11.5 cents, or 17.3 per cent, lower at 78 cents at 1453 AEDT.

Mount Gibson chief executive Jim Beyer said decisive "business optimisation measures" were necessary in light of current volatile market conditions.

"It is encouraging that iron ore prices have firmed in the past week or two, and we remain confident in the long-term outlook for iron supply to Asia.

"However, the immediate market outlook remains uncertain," Mr Beyer said.

Some of the already-planned redundancies associated with a mine closure at Tallering Peak in WA would be brought forward.

Mount Gibson has also suspended all discretionary capital expenditure, non-safety-related training and reduced the ongoing use of external consultants.

The Perth-based company has three main projects, including Tallering Peak, Koolan Island and Extension Hill.

Plans to ramp up production beyond the current three million tonnes per annum production rate at Koolan Island will be slowed.

Mining activity at Extension Hill, which was reduced from July, will continue at the currently reduced rate and a company-wide slowdown would involve mining on a single shift basis at all mines.

The company still continues to target sales of between eight million and 8.5 million tonnes for the financial year.


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Sydney gang rapist gets weekend leave

A SYDNEY man in jail for participating in two gang rapes has been refused parole for a third time but will be allowed out on weekends.

Mohamad Sanoussi, 28, has served almost 12 years of a maximum 16-year sentence.

Brothers Bilal and Mohammed Skaf, as well as Sanoussi's brother Mahmoud and a fifth man, Mahmoud Chami, were also convicted for the August 2000 rapes in Sydney's southwest.

In refusing parole on Thursday, the State Parole Authority (SPA) said it took into account a decision by Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin to extend Sanoussi's current day leave to one weekend a fortnight to "encourage his successful reintegration into the community".

His parole will be reconsidered early next year.

Sanoussi will be subject to electronic monitoring and must abstain from drugs and alcohol when his weekend leave begins later this month.

In his submission to the SPA, Mr Severin said the 28-year-old faced "considerable hurdles in successfully reintegrating into the community, including the fact he's spent his adult life in custody".

He also noted Sanoussi's intellectual disability, mental health issues and difficulty in putting into practice the lessons he had learned during a custody-based intensive treatment program.

The probation and parole service said it also had concerns about his resettlement into the community, given the length of his incarceration.

"As such, monitoring will be an important part of this inmate's case management," it said.

Sanoussi was ordered to participate in community psychology services and to continue drug and alcohol counselling.


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Wickenby accounts for veteran accountant

A FORMER president of the National Institute of Accountants has been sentenced to nearly five years in jail for tax fraud.

Lynette Kathleen Liles, 66, showed no emotion as she was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday on four fraud counts, after pleading guilty in February.

The court heard she facilitated money laundering and tax evasion conspiracies worth millions of dollars for clients, using companies and banks in Vanuatu to channel disguised funds.

A number of clients she helped commit tax fraud have already been jailed after Project Wickenby unpicked the conspiracies used to evade taxation over many years from the 1990s.

Project Wickenby is an ongoing taskforce involving federal police, the tax office and other agencies, aimed at preventing people from promoting or participating in the abuse of tax and secrecy havens.

Justice Monika Schmidt said on Thursday that Liles' offending was a "repeated, deliberate, calculating and systematic fraud on Australian taxpayers".

She said it was a "significant breach of trust on the part of a qualified and highly placed accountant", who was president of the National Institute of Accountants from 1994-96.

Justice Schmidt noted when the tax office started investigating Liles in 2006 she continued to engage in fraudulent activity and tried to conceal it.

She said Liles prepared false tax returns, invoices, profit and loss accounts, loan papers and other documents to disguise money that should have been liable for tax.

The court heard that company profits were transferred to nominee companies in Port Vila then sent back disguised as payments for management, licensing and other fees, claimed as business expenses.

The court heard that Liles made a statement to police, saying she had felt an obligation to help her clients who had become close friends.

Earlier this year, clients of Liles were given jail terms for tax fraud, including air-conditioning business operators Paul and Lesley Mascall and television producers Michael Boughen and Wayne Cameron.

Boughen was the executive producer of Seven's Deal Or No Deal and Cameron was his collaborator on the dating show Perfect Match.

In sentencing, Justice Schmidt noted Liles had medical conditions including possible heart disease, diabetes and hypertension, and had a life expectancy of only another seven years.

She was also the main carer for her ill 71-year-old husband.

Justice Schmidt set a total sentence of eight years and three months but ordered Liles be released after four years and 11 months after taking into account her guilty plea, assistance to police and health.

Liles will have to sign a good behaviour bond on her release in September 2017.

Family members wept outside the court after Liles was sentenced.


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Clock ticking on fed funding: O'Farrell

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 17 Oktober 2012 | 11.25

FEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan has accused NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell of attempting to cover up his own budget cuts after he called on the commonwealth to commit to billions of dollars worth of partnerships funding.

NSW stands to lose $2.4 billion over four years if the funding isn't continued under new agreements which reward states for meeting reform targets in areas such as health, education, child care and the homeless.

Mr O'Farrell on Wednesday called on Canberra to outline the future of the agreements, some of which are due to expire next June.

He said the NSW government had already tightened its belt because of a $5.2 billion drop in GST revenues - slashing funding to health and education - and predicted "further pain" if the state lost billions more in partnerships funding.

"If the federal government don't commit to a continuation of national partnership funding, another two-and-a-half billion dollars will be cut from the state's revenues," Mr O'Farrell said.

"That means further belt tightening. That means further savings measures across NSW.

"That's a huge blow to people who use the health system, it is a huge blow to the children who are in education or child care, it is a huge blow to indigenous communities in relation to those who suffer disadvantage across the state.

"It will hurt those who sleep rough on our streets, as well as those seeking accommodation under domestic violence programs."

But Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan accused the premier of a "desperate smokescreen" to cover the state's own budget cuts.

"(Mr O'Farrell) has called on the federal government to guarantee hospital funding - and we have done exactly that, in an agreement that he has personally signed," Mr Swan said in a statement to AAP.

"In fact, under the National Health Reform Package, we are boosting funding by more than $16 billion over six years."

Mr Swan said Labor had boosted funding for states under national specific-purpose payments and national partnership agreements by around $7 billion since the Liberals' time in federal government.

The issue of the funding agreements has been raised at the three Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meetings Mr O'Farrell has attended since becoming premier in March 2011.

However, the federal government has so far refused to commit to renewing the agreements introduced by former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

"At each meeting national partnerships have been discussed," Mr O'Farrell told reporters in Sydney.

"At each meeting there has been no resolution, no agreement from the commonwealth government as to what's happening with the future of national partnerships.

"What that does is leave every state, but particularly NSW, in a situation where we don't know what money we're going to have from the first of July next year."

Mr O'Farrell said it was time Prime Minister Julia Gillard explained to state and territory leaders what was going to happen "because we can't allow this uncertainty to continue".


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CSL launches another share buyback

BLOOD products and vaccines supplier CSL Ltd will undertake another $900 million share buyback and still expects its profit to grow by about 12 per cent in fiscal 2103.

The buyback is a continuation of the company's efforts to improve its capital strength and will further improve its earnings per share performance.

CSL will buy up to $900 million in shares over 12 months from November 1, representing about four per cent of its total shares on issue.

The company began an identical buyback 12 months ago, which is currently 94 per cent completed, with about $850 million worth of shares purchased.

"Through these buybacks, our shareholders benefit from improved investment return ratios, such as on earnings per share and return on equity," CSL chairman John Shine told CSL's annual general meeting on Wednesday.

CSL shares were up 90 cents, or 1.93 per cent, at $47.64 1401 AEDT.

CSL also reiterated its guidance of 12 per cent profit growth in the 2012/13 financial year.

CSL chief executive Brian McNamee said that CSL remained "very well placed", generating very positive cash flows and high returns, having low gearing, and investing heavily in research and development and new production facilities.

"We are anticipating continuing growth," Dr McNamee said.

"We consider the trading conditions to be relatively similar this year to last year."

Dr McNamee said that CSL, which will start reporting its results in US dollars in the current financial year, was anticipating revenue growth of about 10 per cent to about $US5 billion this financial year.

"We are again looking for a successful year from a profitability perspective, with NPAT (net profit after tax) growth of approximately 12 per cent," he said.

Dr McNamee said CSL was continuing to strengthen its presence in emerging markets such as China and elsewhere in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

But the company would focus on developing specialty and haemophilia products in wealthier, sophisticated markets such as the United States, Europe and Australia.

CSL made a net profit of $982.6 million in the 2011/12 financial year, up 4.5 per cent from the previous financial year.

Earnings per share growth in 2012/13 is expected to be stronger than profit growth, due to the newly announced buyback.

CSL shareholders on Wednesday voted in favour of the company's remuneration report.

However, Australian Shareholders Association (ASA) representative Don Hyatt said the ASA believed that the remuneration received by the executives of many Australian companies was excessive compared to that of the regular salary earner.

Mr Hyatt said CSL executives had pay packages ranging from 15 to 100 times the average full-time wage in Australia.


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Pitbull entitled to cancel Oz tour: judge

US rapper Pitbull was entitled to cancel an Australian tour nearly four years ago after he was not paid on time, a NSW Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Australian music promoters Jaime Fernandez, known as DJ Suave, and Juan Uribe, known as DJ Don Juan, had sued Pitbull for breach of contract after he cancelled concerts in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in December 2008.

The Supreme Court heard Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Perez, entered into an agreement with the pair that he would be paid $60,000 for the concerts.

This included a $30,000 deposit, with the balance to be paid on November 25, seven days before Pitbull left the US for Australia.

The court heard Pitbull did not receive the full deposit amount and he did not leave the US on the scheduled date after his promoter, Barry London, told him the final payment had not been made.

Pitbull eventually received a payment of $US50,975 on December 3, 2008, when he maintained it was too late for him to board a flight.

He kept the $30,000 deposit but returned the remaining money "as an act of goodwill", the court was told.

Mr Fernandez and Mr Uribe sought damages relating to their losses arising from the concert cancellations, ticket sales and venue hire as well as the return of their deposit.

However, Justice Robert Beech-Jones noted Mr London was "dealing with an overseas promoter with whom he did not have any established relationship".

"Once Pitbull embarked on his flight to Australia his exposure increased and his ability to pull out became difficult," Justice Beech-Jones said on Wednesday.

"It is common ground that on 1 December 2008, Mr London had said they would not leave unless they were paid.

"The departure date of 2 December 2008 was pivotal to Pitbull completing this tour.

"Once it came unstuck, Pitbull's opportunity to undertake that tour was over."

The issue of costs will be dealt with at a later date.


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Tendulkar to receive Australian honour

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 16 Oktober 2012 | 11.25

INDIAN cricket great Sachin Tendulkar is to receive an Australian honour.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday during her first visit to India as Australia's leader that Tendulkar was to be made an honorary member of the Order of Australia.

She said it was a "special honour" rarely conferred on non-Australians.


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Car park skeleton may be Richard III

ARCHAEOLOGISTS are anxiously waiting to see if a skeleton dug up from a hole in a car park in the English city of Leicester is the remains of the much-maligned King Richard III.

More than five centuries after he was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field by the armies of Henry Tudor, who later became King Henry VII, scientists believe they are close to making an identification.

Michael Ibsen, 55, a 17th generation nephew of the king, will have his DNA tested against the remains found in the humblest of settings but which could just prove to be the burial place of the last English monarch to fall in battle.

Ibsen, who was born in Canada and moved to London 27 years ago where he works as a carpenter, said: "The only line that they were able to follow through to current times was the line that leads to my mother."

The DNA testing is expected to be completed by December at the earliest.

"Obviously it would be a great disappointment if there is no DNA match, but fingers crossed. We'll wait and see," he said.

Experts have long thought that Richard III was laid to rest in Leicester in the church of the Franciscan Friary, or Greyfriars, after he was killed in battle in 1485.

However, stories dating to the 17th Century said that Richard's remains were dug up after the friary was dissolved and were then tossed into a local river.

For years, inaccurate maps and conflicting local legends obscured the trail, but this year archaeologists were finally able to narrow down the search after they found clues to the location of the church where Richard is said to have been buried.

The cloisters leading to the middle of the church was one giveaway, while a masonry bench indicated a chapter house.

"Many people hadn't really thought too much about whether the remains could actually still be here after all," said Richard Buckley, co-director of University of Leicester's Archaeological Services.

When Buckley's team descended into the trenches under the car park's tarmac, what they found was beyond their wildest dreams.

After only three weeks on site, a short stint compared to most excavations, the archaeologists found the bones of an adult man lying in a plain, simple grave.

"We can tell from the state of the skeleton that the burial was made shortly after death, and the body was not moved later," said Jo Appleby, lecturer in human bioarchaeology at the university.

"It seems to have been a careful burial, but not an elaborate one," she told AFP.

Scientists have already established that the skeleton showed at least two injuries on the skull, a wound on the back and curvature of the spine.

"He has what seems to be injuries consistent with a death in battle which we know is what happened to Richard," Appleby said.

"However it's a burial in a medieval church, and medieval churches usually have multiple burials in them so it is always possible that we have not found the right individual."

Time has been of the essence in solving the puzzle surrounding Richard, because the mitochondrial DNA that will be used for testing is only passed along the female line.

While Ibsen and his brother have the DNA link desired by archaeologists, only their sister could pass it on to an 18th generation, and she has no children.

Michael Ibsen hopes that identification of the king's remains could help the king to rehabilitate his reputation. After all, Shakespeare portrayed him as a power-obsessed hunchback who murdered his nephews to steal the crown.


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Court extends prisoner's strangle sentence

A PRISONER who tried to strangle a fellow inmate in the shower has had his minimum prison sentence increased by a year and a half in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.

Andrew Robert Windle, 22, was sentenced to at least two-and-a-half years' jail last December in the District Court after he pleaded guilty to attempting to strangle a fellow inmate with intent to murder at Long Bay prison in January 2011.

The court heard Windle had been serving a four-year sentence for intent to cause grievous bodily harm at the time of the strangling offence and was next due to be considered for parole in October 2011.

Windle admitted using a sock to attempt to strangle his fellow inmate, and told corrective services officers he only stopped because he thought his victim was dead.

Windle indicated that he did not know why he did it, saying he "just had to do it", the court heard.

Windle's mental condition was a factor which weighed heavily with the sentencing judge, who imposed a maximum four years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years and six months.

The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions appealed against Windle's sentence, and the Court of Criminal Appeal on Tuesday found it was manifestly inadequate.

"While the sentencing judge clearly exposed his reasons for the sentence imposed, in the final analysis the sentence was outside a legitimate range and must be increased," the judgment said.

The three-judge panel noted: "The offence was carried out whilst in gaol serving a separate sentence for a specially aggravated offence of entering a dwelling with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.

"This court has noted the importance of maintaining discipline within the prison system and protecting other offenders from criminal assaults by fellow inmates."

They set aside the original sentence and sentenced Windle to a maximum term of five years and four months, with a non-parole period of four years.

Taking into account time already served, Windle will be eligible for parole in October 2015.


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Hemp discovered in cereal import

Written By Unknown on Senin, 15 Oktober 2012 | 11.25

HOW did hemp find its way into cereal imported into Australia from the United States?

The prohibited plant was discovered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) during an inspection in May and noted in DAFF's 2012 "Failing Food Report".

The plant is from the same family as marijuana and contains a small amount of the active ingredient that gets marijuana users high.

Hemp is widely used for its seeds and its fibre is woven into bags, rope and other materials.

Tasmanian Liberal senator Richard Colbeck raised the mystery at a Senate estimates hearing on Monday, asking how the department had followed up on the discovery.

"Did we check to see if there had been any previous problems, not a lot of happy bread eaters or whatever the grain was?" Senator Colbeck asked.

DAFF assistant secretary for cargo and shipping Peter Liehne said that when a food failed inspection, it was usually inspected rigorously until the department was confident the problem was resolved.

The department couldn't say exactly how the hemp managed to get into the cereal.

It took the question on notice.


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Pulpy fruit parts said to prevent cancer

FIBRE has long been known to clean the bowel but it has now been found to deliver cleansing antioxidants to the colon as well, meaning it helps prevent stomach diseases such as cancer in two ways.

University of Queensland scientist Anneline Padayachee made the discovery after her work at a juicing factory prompted her to wonder how much goodness was being thrown away in the pulp left behind by juicing machines.

What she discovered is that much of the antioxidant compounds in fruits and vegetables are actually attached to the fibre in the pulpy parts of these foods.

The fibre delivers the compounds, called polyphenols, to the colon and releases them there, helping to prevent cancerous cell damage.

In the case of black carrots, which are rich in polyphenols, 80 per cent of their antioxidants are found in the fibrous, pulpy parts.

Previously fibre was thought to be of benefit only because it cleaned the bowel and it was not known to deliver antioxidants.

Presenting her research at a Fresh Science event in Melbourne on Monday, Dr Padayachee said it showed it is important that people either eat whole fruit and vegetables or, if they are juicing them, drink pulpy juices rather than clear thinned-out juices to get antioxidants into their system.

"To gain the benefits of polyphenols, you need to consume everything, the whole vegetable or fruit, including the fibrous pulp if you're juicing it," Dr Padayachee said.

"Not only will you have a clean gut but a healthy gut full of polyphenols."

The four-year research project, jointly funded by the University of Queensland Centre for Nutrition and Food Science, the CSIRO and the Australian Research Council, finished in 2012.

Scientists are now researching whether fibre can be used to deliver and release medicines to the colon and will look at ways of using fruit and vegetable pulps in different manufactured food products.


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'Parasites and fungus' killed Qld catfish

PARASITES and fungus are the likely causes of a mass catfish kill-off in the Brisbane River.

About 8000 fork-tailed catfish were found in September floating in the Brisbane River, near Lowood, west of Brisbane, with some as far upstream as Lockyer Creek.

No other fish species were found among the dead.

The Department of Environment said field inspections and laboratory testing of the catfish and water quality found that white spot disease and a freshwater fungus are the likely causes to the fishes' deaths.

Executive Director Andrew Connor said the fish showed damage to the gills and skin which is consistent with symptoms of white spot disease.

White spot disease is known to cause high mortality in catfish.

Laboratory testing also excluded pesticides and toxic algae from involvement in the fish kill.


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