A public hospital lied to the government about its surgery waiting lists for almost a decade, according to a new report.

Victoria's Royal Women's Hospital lied to the government about the waiting times for about 180 patients every year, an independent audit has found. The patients waited an average of 95 days longer than reported.

The under-reporting allowed the hospital to qualify for bonus funding.

(Source: The Age)

 

Quote of the Moment:

"eligible bachelors, millionaires and gorgeous girls will mix and mingle in a luxurious, classy and comfortable environment."

The Privileged Lounge, a new Gold Coast nightclub, which offers memberships for $5000.

 

Eating red meat appears to increase the risk of dying from cancer or heart attack, according to new research.

The US study looked at the diets of 500,000 people. A follow-up 10 years later found that those who at the most red meat also had a higher death rate.

(Source: MX)

 

An inaugural member of an elite police unit designed to protect high school children has been committed to stand trial for the alleged indecent assault of a 14-year-old girl under his care.

In Armidale Local Court yesterday the magistrate, Michael Holmes, said a responsible jury would convict the former senior constable on two charges of indecently assaulting a girl under 16 and grooming through the internet and telephone.

The man, part of the original 40-strong school liaison unit announced by former New South Wales premier Morris Iemma for the start of the 2007 school year, was charged last March. His identity has been legally suppressed to protect the claimant.

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

 

Israeli soldiers have worn tshirts celebrating killing children.

An unknown number of soldiers wore the tshirts to celebrate the end of operations in Gaza.

One tshirt showed a child in a rifle sight, with the slogan 'The smaller they are, the harder it is.' Another depicted a pregnant woman, and the slogan '1 Shot 2 Kills'.

A t-shirt designed for infantry snipers bears the inscription 'Better use Durex' next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him.

Amir Marmor, an Israeli military reservist who served in the operation, claims that commanders took the attitude of "shoot and don't worry about the consequences" towards civilian casualties.

(Source: MX, The Guardian [UK])

 

The CIA has admitted destroying almost 100 videotapes of 'interrogations' of suspected terrorists, far more than previously suspected.

The admission came in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

(Source: MX)

 

All 1.4 million of Australia's secondary school students will have access to an online maths program, which includes promotion of McDonalds.

The Maths Online lessons cost $40 a month to run for each student, but are being offered free.

Students logging on will see the company's golden arches logo and the words "proudly provided by your local McDonald's restaurant".

(Source: The Guardian [UK])

 

Inequality hurts everyone - even those in the top economic brackets who supposedly benefit from it - according to a new study.

A new book, the Spirit Level, by British academics Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, argues that almost every social problem common in developed societies - reduced life expectancy, child mortality, drugs, crime, homicide rates, mental illness and obesity - has a single root cause of inequality.

They claim that just as someone from the lowest-earning 20% of a more equal society is more likely to live longer than their counterpart from a less equal society, so too someone from the highest-earning 20% has a longer life expectancy than their alter ego in a less equal society.

For example the US is wealthier and spends more on health care than any other country, yet a baby born in Greece, where average income levels are about half that of the US, has a lower risk of infant mortality and longer life expectancy than an American baby.

Similarly, obesity is twice as common in the UK as the more equal societies of Sweden and Norway, and six times more common in the US than in Japan. Teenage birth rates are six times higher in the UK than in more equal societies; mental illness is three times as common in the US as in Japan; and murder rates are three times higher in more unequal countries.

The differences are noticeable even between different US states: in states where income differentials were greatest, so were the social problems and lack of cohesion.

(Source: The Guardian [UK])

 

Quote of the Moment:

"We didn't have a campaign plan when we started, but we later got one from my higher headquarters that was close to ours, which is not surprising as they told us to do what we told them we would do."

Brigadier General Theo Vleugels on NATO strategy in Afghanistan.

 

Another Australian soldier has died in Afghanistan.

The 10th Australian to die in Afghanistan since 2002 was killed by an improvised explosive device on Thursday.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said it was important to maintain the course and to push NATO coalition nations and partners for better strategies and progress.

There was no doubt that overall more troops were needed, Mr Fitzgibbon said.

(Source: livenews.com.au)

 

A company which has received more than US$170 billion in public money from the American government plans to pay about US$165 million in bonuses to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse.

The American International Group plans to pay the bonuses to executives in its financial products unit, in addition to US$121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company's senior executives and 6,400 employees.

The company's bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from US$1,000 to US$6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit will receive more than US$3 million in bonuses.

(Source: New York Times)

 

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will travel to Washington to discuss plans for the deployment of up to 1000 new Australian troops to Afghanistan.

Sources have confirmed that detailed planning discussions have taken place between Australian officers and their counterparts at US Central Command and that a formal request will come before the leaders meet on March 24.

(Source: The Age)

 

About one in every eight U.S. households, a record share, ended 2008 behind on their mortgage payments or in the foreclosure process, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

With unemployment at a 16-year high and rising, more borrowers will be late paying or fall into foreclosure this year, said the group's chief economist Jay Brinkmann.

(Source: Yahoo! News)

 

The people who helped a nine-year old victim of sexual abuse secure an abortion will be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The girl became pregnant with twins. Her stepfather has been arrested, accused of sexually abusing her over a number of years.

The excommunication applies to the child's mother and the doctors involved in the procedure.

The Catholic Church tried to intervene to prevent the abortion going ahead.

Doctors say that the girl's life was at risk if the abortion was not performed.

(Souce: BBC News website)

 

A new federal government plan will allocate $2 billion for housing for Aboriginals in remote areas - but only for those who sign away their land rights for at least 40 years.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin asked state and territory housing ministers to place the 40-year lease condition on all grants, as well as insisting on regular public housing tenancy arrangements, and the resolution of native title claims, before the money is spent.

The policy is a milder version of a Howard government policy applied to the Northern Territory, which required 99-year leases.

Ms Macklin argued against the Howard government policy while Labor was in opposition.

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

 

The Labor Party says it has no regrets about describing a left-wing independent as a de facto Liberal candidate, despite the Electoral Commission stating it broke the law.

Youth worker and charity fundraiser Les Twentyman ran as an independent in the 2008 by-election for the Victorian state seat of Kororoit. He was supported by the Electrical Trades Union and former MP Phil Cleary.

The Labor Party released a pamphlet during the by-election which claimed that a vote for the left-winger was "a vote for the Liberals."

The Liberal Party gave Mr Twentyman their preferences, while he directed his preferences to Labor.

In a report to State Parliament, the Electoral Commission advised that the pamphlet was misleading and a breach of Victoria's Electoral Act, which outlaws distribution of material "likely to mislead or deceive" voters.

However ALP state secretary Stephen Newnham, who wrote the pamphlet, said that the party would pursue similar tactics in the future.

(Source: The Age, Wikipedia)