A MEMBER of a self-styled radical Islamic street gang is recovering in hospital after he was stabbed at a Western Sydney birthday party.
A DECISION by the energy minister to halt drilling at a coal seam gas site could cost the state government $15 million as a compensation payout.
A MEMBER of a self-styled radical Islamic street gang is recovering in hospital after he was stabbed at a Western Sydney birthday party.
A DECISION by the energy minister to halt drilling at a coal seam gas site could cost the state government $15 million as a compensation payout.
BULLYING, phone tapping and placing "black box" trackers on cars were allegedly common in the ranks of the scandal-plagued Health Services Union (HSU), a corruption hearing has been told.
CURRENT and former employees of the Victorian HSU No.1 branch took the stand at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption on Monday claiming they had been frozen out and intimidated by a faction loyal to branch secretary Diana Asmar.
Ms Asmar's barrister, Remy van de Wiel QC, argued some witness statements should not be tendered because they were politically motivated "scuttlebutt" that her political enemies would use through the media - an argument rejected by commissioner Dyson Heydon.Ms Asmar was in the gallery of the hearing room as a number of former and current underlings gave evidence critical of how she ran the branch and used power.Assistant branch secretary and treasurer Leonie Flynn said in evidence she felt undermined and threatened by her boss, Ms Asmar, and was prevented from carrying out her job, which included managing union finances.Ms Flynn said she was excluded from meetings, ostracised at work and was not made a signatory of branch bank accounts despite her treasurer's role.In extraordinary evidence, Ms Flynn said she met co-workers at a home in Melbourne's outer suburbs in August, 2013, to discuss problems at the branch.One colleague refused to have her mobile phone in the house because he believed the phone was tapped "and they could hear what was going on", she said.Later the same day, Ms Flynn said, Ms Asmar's car pulled in front of hers on busy Lygon St in the centre of Melbourne, then sped off.Ms Flynn said her colleagues had warned her "they know where you are all the time" and that cars were tracked either by GPS or a "black box" tracking device.She said she was traumatised by the incident and went on stress leave soon after.Ms Flynn ran in the 2012 election on the ticket of Ms Asmar's rival Marco Bolano.Mr Bolano, an ally of HSU whistleblower Kathy Jackson, was unsuccessful in his bid for secretary.The commission heard from former HSU official Robert McCubbin that when Ms Flynn secured the assistant-secretary role, there was "open discussion" among Ms Asmar's faction of how to get rid of her.One strategy, Mr McCubbin said in a statement, was that a male union official "would flirt with her and set her up for a sexual harassment claim".The hearing continues on Tuesday.Inbetweeners 2, which was filmed around Australia, has topped the local box office over the weekend. Source: AAP
THE lads from the Inbetweeners sequel have scored first place at the Australian box office in their opening weekend, toppling Guardians of the Galaxy.
THE Inbetweeners 2, which was filmed around Australia, debuted with $3.155 million, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.
Its success meant the latest Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy fell into second with $2.733 million, after two weeks at No.1.Also dropping one place was Helen Mirren's new flick The Hundred-Foot Journey, now in third, while Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, remained in fourth place.Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables 3 slipped two places to No.5.The first Doctor Who episode of series 8, Deep Breath, has been screening in cinemas for fans and hauled in $629,219 from Thursday to Sunday to take sixth spot.It pushed Mark Ruffalo/Keira Knightley muso flick Begin Again down one place into No.7, while Dwayne Johnson's take on Hercules fell two spots to eighth.Freedom, starring Cuba Gooding Jr and helmed by Aussie theatre star Peter Cousens in his directorial debut, opened in ninth place.And rounding out the ladder in 10th spot was slow-burn thriller A Most Wanted Man, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final roles.TOP 10 FILMS FOR THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 21-24:1. The Inbetweeners 2 - $3.155 million (Roadshow)2. Guardians of the Galaxy - $2.733 million (Walt Disney)3. The Hundred-Foot Journey - $1.763 million (Walt Disney)4. Lucy - $1.142 million (Universal)5. The Expendables 3 - $900,710 (Roadshow)6. Dr Who: Deep Breath - $629,219 (Sharmill)7. Begin Again - $306,429 (Roadshow)8. Hercules - $136,562 (Paramount)9. Freedom (II) - $124,356 (Heritage)10. A Most Wanted Man - $120,586 (Roadshow)Theo Curtis, a US man held hostage by an Islamic rebel group in Syria for two years, has been freed. Source: AAP
AN American hostage held by rebels in Syria for 22 months has been freed after Qatari mediation, just days after a video showed a fellow US journalist beheaded by jihadists.
"FINALLY he is returning home," US Secretary of State John Kerry said, confirming the release of Peter Theo Curtis, a 45-year-old author and freelance journalist whose disappearance had not been previously reported.
Curtis was handed over to UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights on Sunday and after undergoing a medical checkup was transferred to US representatives, the United Nations said.News of his release came less than a week after a grisly video surfaced showing the beheading of American reporter James Foley at the hands of a masked Islamic State militant."Particularly after a week marked by unspeakable tragedy, we are all relieved and grateful knowing that Theo Curtis is coming home after so much time held in the clutches of Jabhat Al-Nusrah," Kerry said, referring to the Al-Nusra Front, another Islamic rebel group operating in Syria.Kerry said the United States had reached out to more than two dozen countries for help in securing Curtis's release, and that of any other American held hostage in Syria.US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said she expected Curtis to be reunited with his loved ones shortly.Curtis' family thanked both the governments of the United States and Qatar, as well as others who helped negotiate his release."My heart is full at the extraordinary, dedicated, incredible people, too many to name individually, who have become my friends and have tirelessly helped us over these many months," his mother Nancy said."Please know that we will be eternally grateful," she added, pleading for privacy.According to the family's statement, Curtis was captured shortly before he crossed into Syria in October 2012 and was held since then "by the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra or by splinter groups allied with Jabhat al-Nusra."The Islamic State and Al-Nusra, which both have thousands of fighters in their ranks, are rooted in Al-Qaeda in Iraq but the two groups have been openly at war with each other in Syria since early this year.Details of Curtis's release remain unclear.His mother said the family was "repeatedly told by representatives of the Qatari government that they were mediating for Theo's release on a humanitarian basis without the payment of money."The New York Times reported the family was introduced by Washington's UN envoy, Samantha Power, to her Qatari counterpart.On the heels of false starts and pricey ransom demands ranging from $US3 million ($A3.25 million) to $US25 million ($A27.05 million), the family told the newspaper that there was progress after Qatar got involved.Describing him as a published author and freelance journalist from Boston and Vermont, the family statement said Curtis writes under the name Theo Padnos.Curtis' mother recalled Foley's fate, saying she had got to know the late journalist's family."We are so relieved that Theo is healthy and safe and that he is finally headed home after his ordeal, but we are also deeply saddened by the terrible, unjustified killing last week of his fellow journalist, Jim Foley, at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," she said.Rice also referenced Foley's killing, which she said "shocked the conscience of the world".The United States, she said, "will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed.""We will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of all Americans who are held overseas so that they can be reunited with their families as well."Chinese market for medical technology used to be on the long list of lofty goals for device makers. Source: AAP
A CHINESE market for medical technology used to be on the long list of lofty goals for device makers.
NOW med-tech firms are seeing double-digit growth as they partner with Chinese manufacturers, purchase Chinese companies, and race to educate and woo Chinese doctors and patients eager to tap the latest technology.
A growing Chinese middle class and increasing investment in health care by the Chinese government are making such devices as pacemakers, defibrillators, insulin pumps and spine products accessible to hundreds of millions of new patients. More-familiar factors play a role, too, as the nation falls prey to such chronic ailments as heart disease and diabetes, meaning even more customers will lean on technology from device makers to prolong and improve their lives.The burgeoning Chinese middle class is estimated to number more than 400 million people - larger than the entire population of the United States. That middle class is demanding better access to health care, and the Chinese government has responded by pledging to spend $A135.24 million over the next three years, promising that all citizens will have access to basic health care by 2020.International companies are pumping money into the market.In 2011, Boston Scientific announced a five-year, $US150 million investment in China, including a new local manufacturing facility. Its Institute for Advancing Science offers Chinese doctors programs in cardiology, cardiac rhythm management, electrophysiology, endoscopy, peripheral interventions, urology and women's health.Also in 2011, St Jude Medical opened its Advanced Technology Centre Asia Pacific in Beijing. The centre is expected to train up to 2,000 doctors each year.Karen Eggleston, director of the Asia Health Policy Program at Stanford University, said a multifaceted business strategy in China - from partnerships to training to facilities to outright purchases - is a solid approach."It is common among the wiser firms, for people who are learning the market and trying to figure out which strategies work better," she said.All that growth isn't expected to slow down."The medical technology market in China has grown rapidly - consistently by double digits for the past decade or so - and it is projected to continue to do so," said Ralph Ives, executive vice president for global strategy and analysis at the Advanced Medical Technology Association, testifying recently to a US-China trade commission in Washington."The medical technology market in 2006 was about one-third the size of today's market in China, and it could expand by 40 per cent over the next three years."BRITISH workmen have managed to misspell the word 'bus' during roadworks.
"BUP stop" was painted on to the road surface in Bristol in large yellow lettering at the end of last week, with the stencilled letter P used instead of S.
The mistake was made as part of road repairs which are likely to last up to four weeks in the Old Market area of the city centre. A MEMBER of a self-styled radical Islamic street gang is recovering in hospital after he was stabbed at a Western Sydney birthday party.
A DECISION by the energy minister to halt drilling at a coal seam gas site could cost the state government $15 million as a compensation payout.
