SYDNEY: Australian employment staged a surprisingly strong revival in June while the jobless rate ticked down toward three-decade lows, keeping alive the risk that a drum-tight labour market could fuel inflationary pressures. The Australian dollar jumped half a U.S. cent after the government reported employment rose by a net 29,800 in June, easily beating forecasts of a 10,000 gain. That made up for a revised 25,600 drop in MayWednesday, July 9, 2008
Australia jobs rebound, unemployment dips anew
SYDNEY: Australian employment staged a surprisingly strong revival in June while the jobless rate ticked down toward three-decade lows, keeping alive the risk that a drum-tight labour market could fuel inflationary pressures. The Australian dollar jumped half a U.S. cent after the government reported employment rose by a net 29,800 in June, easily beating forecasts of a 10,000 gain. That made up for a revised 25,600 drop in May
Media free again in Parliament
KUALA LUMPUR: Members of the media are free to move around again in the Parliament lobby, after the barricades that were set up to confine them in a corner were removed Wednesday. Reporters,...
Tibet to Re-open to Foreign Tourism
Fires in Tibet capital, Lhasa after protests, 14 Mar 2008China says it will reopen Tibet to foreign tourists, after closing it during...Chinese riot policemen aboard a truck patrol in front of the Potala palace in Lhasa on June 20. Tibet will reopen to foreign tourists on June 25, China's state-run Xinhua news agency has said, quoting a tourism...
by Dan Martin 18 minutes ago BEIJING(AFP) - China will allow foreign tourists back into Tibet from Wednesday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, lifting a ban imposed after it cracked down on anti-Chinese...
China Loosens Olympics Reporting Rules
Foreign television broadcasters have reached an accord with Chinese authorities to allow live news coverage during the Beijing Olympics -- including from Tiananmen Square -- settling one of the major remaining roadblocks to the Games that will begin in just a month. TV companies, some of which have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the rights to broadcast the Olympics, had been in a stalemate with Beijing officials since May over the ability to report live via satellite outside
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Vidya patch up with Sarkar
Vidya Balan and Pradeep Sarkar recently patched up their differences. The two were not on talking terms after Vidya refused to do Sarkar’s Laaga Chunri Mein Daag (the role went to Rani Mukerji).Ellen Gray: Holly Hunter thrilled to return as boundary-pushing cop in'Saving Grace'
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Daily News TV Critic SAVING GRACE. 10 p.m. Monday, TNT. THE PHRASE "passion project" gets thrown around a lot in Hollywood, but in television, where even the brightest ideas can lose luster in the grind of a weekly series, passion like Holly Hunter's can be hard to sustain. But as the Academy Award-winning actress ("The Piano") returns to TNT next week for Season 2 of "Saving Grace," an offbeat drama
Drew, Justin call it quits
Los Angeles - Drew Barrymore and Justin Long have split up. The couple - who had known each other for seven years before they co-starred in romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You - had been dating since August 2007. Drew's representative said: "I can confirm the split with no additional comment." However, the couple are said to be determined not to let the split ruin their long-term friendship. A source close to the couple revealed: "They are still friends, and will always be friends."
Sir Ben Kingsley a Beatle would-have-been?
LOS ANGELES, California—Imagine Sir Ben Kingsley as a Beatle. It was one of those might-have-beens for the knighted actor. 'I was offered a contract by Dick James who recorded all the Beatles' early discs,' the Oscar-winning thespian said in a recent interview. 'It was an extraordinary meeting. Dick was quite insistent because he heard me play the guitar and sing onstage in London, as did the boys, John (Lennon) and Ringo (Starr). It was quite difficult for me to decide which way to go.
New & recent releases
In this photo provided by Universal, Selma Blair and Ron Perlman star in " Hellboy II: The Golden Army." (AP Photo/Universal, Egon Endenyi) NEW RELEASES LOVE STORY 2050 A Bollywood musical. 150 minutes.Unrated. THE RAPE OF EUROPA *** 1/2 Writer-directors Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen and Nicole Newnham focus on Adolf Hitler's plan to loot the nations of Europe, destroy art that displeased him and enshrine the rest in his boyhood town of Linz, where he planned the largest artMonday, July 7, 2008
African refugees find strength in numbers
he leafy trees around the apartment complex are only used for shade and social gatherings. There are no terrified civilians cowering behind them, dodging gunfire. Teenage girls can walk down the street during the day and not fret about being raped. Mothers can send their sons to school without fear that they will be kidnapped and trained to be soldiers. And so, on this peaceful street near downtown Lexington, a careful optimistic spirit seems to be spreading among African refugees from places
How one cultural vision has lessons for the whole world
The British Museum is now our top attraction. If only others would shrug off their deadening ways and follow its lead According to its director, Neil MacGregor, the monstrous iron gates of the British Museum have only twice in its history had to be closed to the public. The first time was in 1848, for fear of angry Chartist radicals. And the second was earlier this year, as thousands queued for the museum's Terracotta Army exhibition.
Hendrix photographer captures diversity of Islamic culture
One of the world's most celebrated rock photographers has launched a collection of work showcasing the diversity and beauty of the Islamic world. Peter Sanders, who made his name photographing famous rock and roll icons of the 1960s, has launched "In the Shade of the Tree", documenting the author's travels around the Muslim world. The book illustrates Sanders four decades of travels to experience the wonders of the Islamic world.
Rare hawk disappearing from Everglades
A graceful bird is disappearing from the place that gave it name, a victim of both nature and human meddling with the water flow in the Everglades. It's never a good sign when an animal disappears from the place that gave it its name. That's what is happening to the Everglades snail kite, an endangered hawk whose numbers are in free fall from the compounded impacts of back-to-back droughts and a long-controversial water management scheme intended to protect another equally at-risk bird.
Bird watchers as far as Britain flock to Alaska
These are just two of the many sea birds bird watchers come to the Bering Sea island to see . ST. PAUL ISLAND, Alaska -- British birder Annie Andreae bristles at being called a "twitcher" - friendly slang in England for someone who will drop everything at the drop of a hat to get a glimpse at a must-see bird. "I'm not a twitcher. I just like watching them
Seeking pollinators in wings
With domesticated bees on the decline, scientists are studying whether native species could keep the nation's crops going. By Sandy Bauers Inquirer Staff Writer On a sunny morning, amid 35 acres of Montgomery County farmland lush with tomato, bean, basil and cantaloupe, Neal Williams affixes a yellow flower to a stick and steps gingerly through the watermelon vines, intent on catching a bee. The flower hasn't been pollinated yet - it's been covered since dawn by a cap of bridal veilWhy Canada Is the Best Haven from Climate Change
A group of islands with the potential to develop into a tourist paradise has been named as the country least equipped to withstand the effects of climate change. The Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, between Mozambique and Madagascar, are a small nation of sparkling blue lagoons and picture-postcard beaches. But the country is politically unstable and a report published today says it is the world's most vulnerable country to the future impacts of global warming such as increased stormsOrganic chickens 'less flavoursome', researchers say
It will undoubtedly ruffle a few feathers among campaigning celebrity chefs. But according to a new scientific study, organically reared chickens are not as flavoursome as intensively farmed birds. The findings fly in the face of claims by campaigners who argue that consumers should opt for chickens which are allowed to roam outdoors. They say this environment makes for a naturally tastier option on the dinner table and justifies the more expensive price tag
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Orangutans facing extinction in Asia, new study shows
Endangered orangutans could become the first great ape to become extinct if urgent action isn’t taken to protect the species from human encroachment in Southeast Asia, a new study says. The number of orangutans in Indonesia and Malaysia has declined sharply since 2004, mostly because of illegal logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations, said Serge Wich, a scientist at the Great Ape Trust in the US state of Iowa, yesterday
Ice caps melting
The North Pole will be ice-free this summer "for the first time in human history," wrote Steve Connor in The Independent. Or so the experts at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado predict. This sounds very frightening, so let's look at the facts about polar sea ice. As usual, there are a couple of huge problems with the reports. Firstly, the story is neither alarming nor uniqueCHANGING ENVIRONMENT--Dealing with disaster / Biofuel-material cultivation grows
This is the second installment in a three-part series focusing on global environmental problems expected to be taken up at the G-8 meeting. A 1,000-hectare plantation 20 times the size of Tokyo Disneyland stretches out over hilly terrain in Hluti, Swaziland, a tiny landlocked country in the southeast of the African continent. Planted there is Jatropha curcas, a biofuel material that forms stripe patterns along contours of the land.FREDERICK THURBER: Why White Mountain wildflowers matter
THE INDOMITABLE Bill Viall of Providence recently led me and our sons up Mount Lafayette, in the Franconia Range of New Hampshire. Along the way I dawdled along, botanizing and birding and generally making a pest of myself in Bill's fast-moving party. A thunderstorm caught us near tree line on the Old Bridle Path so we sprinted to the Appalachian Mountain Club's Greenleaf Hut to dry off and regroup. As I came sloshing in the door, I said excitedly, "Bill, I just saw some alpine flowers.
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