Monday, 12 February 2007

Dust and death comes with eerie glow, The Australian, 12 February, 2007.

Dust and death comes with eerie glow: [2 All-round First Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 12 Feb 2007: 6.
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WHILE the east coast was yesterday buffetted by rain, leading to flash flooding and the collapse of a shopping centre roof in Sydney, in the central and southern parts of NSW wind and dust storms led to one death and cast an eerie glow across much of the Riverina.
Senior forecaster with the Bureau of Metereology Neale Fraser said the eerie glow that had been cast by the dust storm across Griffith and surrounding towns was caused by a trough of low pressure heading west which had caused a surge of easterlies in its wake, with winds gusting up to 55km/h.
A spokesman for the NSW State Emergency Service, Phil Campbell, said there were more than 250 calls for help in the southwest of Sydney, mostly because of flash flooding.
WHILE the east coast was yesterday buffetted by rain, leading to flash flooding and the collapse of a shopping centre roof in Sydney, in the central and southern parts of NSW wind and dust storms led to one death and cast an eerie glow across much of the Riverina.
The problems in Sydney began shortly after midday when sections of a roof fell in at the Campbelltown Shopping Mall in the southwest, leading to theevacuation of a thousand shoppers and staff.
A NSW fire brigade spokesman said fire teams attended the collapse after automatic alarms were set off. The water was up to 1m deep in the loading dock and knee deep in other parts of the complex, with the situation exacerbated by overflowing stormwater drains.
The spokesman said large amounts of water had poured through the ceiling and entered the lower levels of the complex, damaging carpets and stock in more than 60 of the centre's 103 shops.
Police were called in to assist with the evacuation and State Emergency Service teams built sandbag walls to prevent further water damage.
In separate incidents, two drivers became stranded during flash floods in the St Marys area of western Sydney. Both men were pulled to safety but their cars were substantially damaged.
In the state's Riverina district in the south, a man in his 20s was killed while driving his utility along Burley Griffin Way near Temora during a wind storm shortly after 3pm.
Witnesses told police a large gum tree was uprooted and struck the man's vehicle.
The local man sustained multiple injuries and died at the scene.
Senior forecaster with the Bureau of Metereology Neale Fraser said the eerie glow that had been cast by the dust storm across Griffith and surrounding towns was caused by a trough of low pressure heading west which had caused a surge of easterlies in its wake, with winds gusting up to 55km/h.
He said the surge "looks spectacular because it is only a few thousand feet deep and is confined to that layer".
"It is like a tongue of cooler air which picks up all the dust but is then confined," he said.
A spokesman for the NSW State Emergency Service, Phil Campbell, said there were more than 250 calls for help in the southwest of Sydney, mostly because of flash flooding.
A "flood watch" alert has been issued by the Bureau of Metereology for the Georges River and SES volunteers closely monitored river heights overnight.
While the east of the country was buffetted by storm pockets yesterday, the west remained hot and dry. Marble Bar in the Pilbara experienced its 36th day in succession with temperatures above 40C.
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Stem cells used for 'natural' boob jobs, The Australian, 12 February, 2007.

Stem cells used for `natural' boob jobs: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 12 Feb 2007: 3.
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It has no immediate implications for women already diagnosed with breast cancer, but Dr [Chenevix-Trench] said researchers expected to unearth similar genes which women could eventually be screened for. "After that we can start to think about testing protocols to see whether it's worth identifying women who have multiple variants," Dr Chenevix-Trench said.
Stem cells, which have the potential to change into any cells in the body, are found in embryos, but the most plentiful supply in adults is from body fat. When body fat is transferred to the breasts, the stem cells enable the fat to grow its own blood supply, thus becoming an integral part of the breast rather than a foreign object.
WOMEN may be able to undergo a "natural" form of breast enlargement using their own stem cells and fat.
The technique, pioneered in Japan, results in breasts that look and feel smoother than conventional cosmetic surgery using implants.
Stem cells, which have the potential to change into any cells in the body, are found in embryos, but the most plentiful supply in adults is from body fat. When body fat is transferred to the breasts, the stem cells enable the fat to grow its own blood supply, thus becoming an integral part of the breast rather than a foreign object.
Dozens of women in Japan have received the enlargements during trials. This month, German authorities gave approval to theprocess. Under EU rules, this means that the procedure is now legal throughout Europe, including Britain.
But Australian women may have to wait for the procedure to become widely available because of litigation concerns.
Michael Zacharia, president of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery, said the technique could make the detection of subsequent breast cancer more difficult.
While the procedure "gives a very nice natural result", he said it could be hard to determine whether changes occurring in a breast were as a result of cancer or the fat transfer. "Medical insurance companies just refuse to cover it," he said.
In a separate development, scientists have unearthed a genetic mutation that gives one in four women a small shield against breast cancer.
This is the first concrete discovery of a common gene linked to the disease, and is the biggest breast cancer find since two rare and high-risk genes were identified a decade ago.
Australian researchers contributed to the international study which found a genetic variation that gives some women a 10 per cent reduced risk of breast cancer.
Everyone has the gene, called Caspase 8, but 25 per cent of women of European descent have a mutated variation which gives them a little protection. And 2 per cent have two variations, giving them twice the defence.
Leader of the Australian research arm, Georgia Chenevix-Trench from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, said confirmation of a low-risk gene for breast cancer was significant.
It has no immediate implications for women already diagnosed with breast cancer, but Dr Chenevix-Trench said researchers expected to unearth similar genes which women could eventually be screened for. "After that we can start to think about testing protocols to see whether it's worth identifying women who have multiple variants," Dr Chenevix-Trench said.
The results are published in the journal Nature Genetics.
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Thursday, 8 February 2007

Leaders plan to dump Hilali, The Australian, 8 February, 2007. Additional reporting. Page One.

Leaders plan to dump Hilali: [1 All-round Country Edition 1]

Richard Kerbaj, Additional reporting: John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 08 Feb 2007: 1.
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The talks at the Lakemba Mosque last Thursday came after the Lebanese Muslim Association indefinitely banned Sheik Hilali -- whose community support base continues to nosedive -- from delivering sermons at the mosque following his return from Egypt last month.
Mr [Mustafa Hamed], president of the Sydney-based community association Bhanin El Minieh, said yesterday that Sheik Hilali needed to accept that his position as Lakemba Mosque's spiritual head would be better served by someone less controversial.
He said Sheik Hilali "unfairly implicated" the LMA every time the cleric strayed into the political arena because the organisation was in charge of Lakemba Mosque.
A GOLDEN handshake -- including a weekly stipend and rent-free accommodation -- is being drawn up for Muslim cleric Taj Din al- Hilali as powerful community leaders head a push to oust the controversial imam.
Sheik Hilali has been officially banned from delivering sermons, and his title as mufti of Australia is expected to be up for grabs when the nation's imams meet in coming weeks to discuss a potential successor.
The future of the 66-year-old's spiritual position at Lakemba Mosque in western Sydney was thrashed out last week by more than 50 Sydney-based Muslim leaders during a secret meeting.
The talks at the Lakemba Mosque last Thursday came after the Lebanese Muslim Association indefinitely banned Sheik Hilali -- whose community support base continues to nosedive -- from delivering sermons at the mosque following his return from Egypt last month.
The Australian understands that Sheik Hilali, who came under fire from community leaders and politicians for comparing women to uncovered meat, initially resisted the ban before agreeing to abandon the pulpit on the basis of "mutual understanding" between him and the LMA executives.
Lebanese Islamic leader
Continued -- Page 4
From Page 1
Mustafa Hamed said the LMA, along with 10 Sydney-based Muslim community organisations present at the secret meeting, were negotiating a "long-service" package for the sheik.
Under the proposed package, the LMA would allow the cleric to continue living in a house next to Lakemba Mosque, which is owned by the organisation. It is also understood the golden handshake would include an indefinite weekly stipend of several hundred dollars.
Mr Hamed, president of the Sydney-based community association Bhanin El Minieh, said yesterday that Sheik Hilali needed to accept that his position as Lakemba Mosque's spiritual head would be better served by someone less controversial.
"If I didn't believe that it was in the best interest of the community, that the damage he's done is enough, I wouldn't say that he should leave," said Mr Hamed in an interview conducted in Arabic. "We are prepared to pay his long-service leave ... this is being currently negotiated in the community, among councils."
Sheik Hilali, returning to his home mosque shortly before 7pm yesterday, at first refused to comment and then said there were no problems between him and the LMA.
"Everything is all right," he said. "There is no news. Everything is all right. I am all right with the Lakemba ... everything is the same."
Last October, The Australian exposed Sheik Hilali's inflammatory sermon, in which he suggested that rape victims who did not wear Islamic headdress were as much to blame as their attackers.
And last month the cleric ridiculed Australia on Egyptian television while dismissing the furore over his insults to women. He said Westerners were "liars and oppressors" who had less right to live in Australia than Muslims.
LMA president Tom Zreika yesterday told The Australian that Sheik Hilali needed to stop playing politics if the Muslim community was to recover from the damage his past remarks had caused.
"He's a very useful and astute religious theologian, but we ask him to keep out of politics," Mr Zreika said.
He said Sheik Hilali "unfairly implicated" the LMA every time the cleric strayed into the political arena because the organisation was in charge of Lakemba Mosque.
"The community as a whole stands to lose more than they would gain by him pursuing this political dialogue," he said.
The Australian National Imams Council is expected to meet by April to thrash out the nature of the mufti position.
It is understood that council members have told Sheik Hilali, who has held the title since 1989, that they cannot guarantee his position.
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Aussie photographer killed in Himalaya avalance The Australian 8 February 2007

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/aussie-photographer-killed-in-himalaya-avalanche/story-e6frg6nf-1111112960504

Aussie photographer killed in Himalaya avalanche

  • JOHN STAPLETON AND AGENCIES
  • THE AUSTRALIAN
  • FEBRUARY 08, 2007 12:00AM
AUSTRALIAN skiier and mountain climber Shaun Kratzer was killed yesterday pursuing his passion in the Himalayas.
Mr Kratzer, 31, died while skiing at Gulmarg, a tourist resort north of the Indian city of Srinagar, renowned for its beauty.
Rescuers yesterday recovered Mr Kratzer's body from the slopes of Mount Afarwat at a height of 4115m.
Initial reports said he was caught in an avalanche after straying into an unmarked area considered unsafe for skiing. He was travelling with two friends, who are believed to have been skiing with him but to have survived the snow storm.
Melting snow is known to trigger avalanches as the weather warms up in the region.
One of Australia's leading climbing photographers, Mr Kratzer had worked at ski resorts around the world and was on a sojourn in the Kashmiri resort town while returning from Europe to Australia.
Numerous examples of Mr Kratzer's work are on the internet, displaying his love of rock climbing and the lives of those who pursued the sport. He was a leading member of the Victorian and La Trobe climbing and mountaineering clubs, and was not shy about helping beginners and building climbing equipment.
His father, Gerd, said his son was an experienced and keen skiier who had worked in resorts in Victoria and the US. "Shaun died loving what he loved to do. It is just the irony of it," Mr Kratzer said from his home in Melbourne. "He was always an outdoor person. He loved climbing and hiking."
Mr Kratzer worked as an equipment manager at Mount Buller. He had spent skiing seasons working at Mount Copper in America and had been in Gulmarg since January 24.
Gulmarg witnessed militancy in the 1990s. But since a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in 2003, it has enjoyed a period of peace. The town is nestled within the Himalayan peaks, and lies close to the Line of Control.
Gulmarg was a favourite haunt of Emperor Jehangir, and was given its name in the 16th century by Sultan Yusuf Shah, who was inspired by the area's wild flowers. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the family would be given all the consular assistance required.
The last Australian climber to die in the Himalayas was mountaineer Sue Fear, 43.
The Sydney climber plunged to her death in a crevasse on Nepal's teacherous Mount Manaslu last May.
Her death came after Lincoln Hall survived a night on Mount Everest after being left for dead and discovered hallucinating by an American climber the following day.
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Monday, 5 February 2007

Sharks, bluebottles mar weekend swimming, The Australian, 5 February, 2007.



Sharks, bluebottles mar weekend swimming: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 05 Feb 2007: 5.
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Lifesavers herded the shark out to sea before reopening Cottesloe, North Cottesloe and Leighton beaches.
Manager of operations for Surf Lifesaving WA Chris Peck said hundreds of people were warned from the water after the Cottesloe shark sighting. Sirens and flags were used to alert swimmers to the emergency.
There are an average of 15 shark attacks a year in Australian waters, one of the highest rates in the world. But Taronga Zoo in Sydney, which keeps a file on attacks, says there have only been 60 fatalities in the past 50 years.

HUNDREDS of swimmers were warned from the water and three of Perth's most popular beaches closed for almost an hour yesterday after a 2m-long shark was seen near the shore.
Lifesavers herded the shark out to sea before reopening Cottesloe, North Cottesloe and Leighton beaches.
The incident completed a weekend of drama on the nation's beaches, following an attack at Shelley Beach in northern NSW on Saturday, when a shark pulled a 26-year-old man from a boogie board after biting him on the lower leg.
The man was airlifted to Lismore Hospital. He was conscious and talking during the flight, but was kept in overnight hospital for observation.
Manager of operations for Surf Lifesaving WA Chris Peck said hundreds of people were warned from the water after the Cottesloe shark sighting. Sirens and flags were used to alert swimmers to the emergency.
Lifesavers in boats, using the engines to scare the shark, herded it more than a kilometre offshore. It was last seen heading south.
Mr Peck urged swimmers to follow lifesavers' instructions whenever a shark was spotted.
In another incident a 25-year-old man was airlifted to Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital from Maroubra Beach on Saturday after he swam into a patch of bluebottles.
He went into shock from the pain of the stings and was treated in the emergency department but later released.
This weekend's attacks follow an abalone diver's miraculous escape from the jaws of a 4m great white two weeks ago on the NSW south coast.
There are an average of 15 shark attacks a year in Australian waters, one of the highest rates in the world. But Taronga Zoo in Sydney, which keeps a file on attacks, says there have only been 60 fatalities in the past 50 years.
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Pilot killed as plane crashes into sea, The Australian, 5 February, 2007.

Pilot killed as plane crashes into sea: [2 All-round First Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 05 Feb 2007: 5.
"Our rescue centre was notified about 4.30pm by the Coolangatta air-traffic control centre," she said.
"A four-seater twin Comanche that had just taken off from Coolangatta airport had indicated double engine failure. The pilot was going to make an emergency landing on a Kingscliff beach.
"We tasked the Careflight helicopter out of Coolangatta, which reported back to us about 5.40pm ... that they had located the aircraft and that one deceased person had been washed up on shore."

Full Text

THE pilot of a twin-engined plane was killed when it plunged into the sea metres from a northern NSW beach yesterday.
The man was trying to make an emergency landing on Casuarina beach at Kingscliff after both the plane's engines failed.
The accident happened shortly after takeoff from nearby Coolangatta airport at about 5pm.
The pilot's body was later washed up on to the beach. Helicopters hovered over the normally quiet resort as police continued a search of the waters.
A police spokesman said while it was believed there had only been one person on board, the search was being continued as a "duty of care" just in case there had been passengers. The spokesman said a report would be prepared for the coroner.
A spokeswoman for Australian Search and Rescue said the plane was believed to have hit the sea at high speed.
"Our rescue centre was notified about 4.30pm by the Coolangatta air-traffic control centre," she said.
"A four-seater twin Comanche that had just taken off from Coolangatta airport had indicated double engine failure. The pilot was going to make an emergency landing on a Kingscliff beach.
"The aircraft subsequently ditched into the sea about 100metres offshore in two metres of water.
"We tasked the Careflight helicopter out of Coolangatta, which reported back to us about 5.40pm ... that they had located the aircraft and that one deceased person had been washed up on shore."
The crash comes a month after two friends from Goulburn died when their light plane crashed in the NSW southern tablelands.
John Guthrie, 65, a father of two, and Neville Smith, 54, a father of three, were killed when their $130,000 Czech-built Sting crashed near Gunning on January 6.
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Plane's engine checked after mid-air 'backfire', The Australian, 5 February, 2007.





Plane's engine checked after mid-air `backfire': [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 05 Feb 2007: 2.
QANTAS engineers are inspecting one of its Boeing 747s following the failure of an engine shortly after the plane's departure from Sydney for Los Angeles.
Qantas denied there had been an explosion and described the problem as similar to an engine backfiring. "At this stage, we believe it was an engine surge, which can lead to a flame jetting out the back of it, but it is not an engine explosion," Mr [Lloyd Quartermaine] said.

Full Text


QANTAS engineers are inspecting one of its Boeing 747s following the failure of an engine shortly after the plane's departure from Sydney for Los Angeles.
Passengers reported loud noises and flames trailing from flight QF 149 on Saturday morning about 45 minutes after take-off. Observers on the ground reported seeing smoke and flames coming from the plane.
Engine No3, on the right-hand side, ceased working, forcing the plane to return to Sydney after 90 minutes in the air, during which time the fuel load was dumped.
A Qantas spokesman said it could take several days to discover what went wrong. He said all safety protocols were followed. Passengers were given snacks and ice-cream in an attempt to keep them calm.
"It is a rigorous and extensive inspection process," spokesman Lloyd Quartermaine said. "The issue with the engine has not been resolved. At this stage, we are still analysing and examining it."
While a few of the more than 270 passengers were placed into vacant seats on a scheduled service to Los Angeles later in the day, Qantas was forced to put on a replacement service, which left at 9.30pm that night.
Qantas denied there had been an explosion and described the problem as similar to an engine backfiring. "At this stage, we believe it was an engine surge, which can lead to a flame jetting out the back of it, but it is not an engine explosion," Mr Quartermaine said.
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