Marissa DuBois in Slow Motion Full Fashion Week 2023, Fashion Channel Vlog,

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Nathan Tinkler hits a billion on the rich list

Gina Rinehart has topped off a dramatic 12 months by sweeping to top place on the BRW Rich 200 list with a fortune of $10.3 billion.
It is the first time any member of the Rich 200 has broken through the magical $10 billion mark and underlines the dramatic impact the mining boom has had on the ranks of Australia's wealthy.

Rinehart was well ahead of the surprise second place on the list Ivan Glasenberg, the South African-born, Swiss-based chief executive of Glencore. His wealth was estimated at $8.8 billion courtesy of last week's float of the world's biggest commodity trader.

Andrew Forrest, the head of Fortescue Metals Group, was in third place with a fortune of $6.18 billion, while Anthony Pratt, who succeeded his late father as head of packaging giant Visy Industries, was in fourth with $5.18 billion.

Clive Palmer – who is set to list his coal company Resourcehouse on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the next few weeks – was ranked fifth with a fortune of $5.05 billion.

While Gina Rinehart has never been far from the headlines in the last 12 months thanks to her strident opposition to the Government's mining tax and her surprise investments in media companies Ten Network and Fairfax Media, the sheer size of the increase in her fortune is staggering.

Not only is she the first woman in the list's 28-year history to lead it, but she also made the biggest fortune ever to be recorded by the BRW Rich 200, with her wealth more than doubling from $4.75 billion last year.

Overall, the rich list gained a 23 per cent rise in wealth to $167.25 billion, and five new billionaires took the total to 35.

Most appearances on this year's list were self-made, with only 17 per cent inheriting their wealth. The number of women in the list remained at 15 in line with last year, BRW said.

Greens: immigration inquiry a witch-hunt

Australia's Government has dismissed an Opposition move to set up an inquiry into the immigration detention network as a political stunt.

Simon Cullen reports from Parliament House the Opposition says the detention network is out of control... and there needs to be a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry.

The Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, says she's open to the idea.

She says, "We need to make sure that any inquiry would look at how to get people out of detention - not just find ways to keep them in."

A spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, says the Coalition's move is just a stunt.

There is some support inside Labor - Government backbencher, Ed Husic, says he'd be happy to back an inquiry, "I think that we do need to have this process open.

While the Greens said they would try to negotiate with Mr Morrison in the coming days, Senator Hanson-Young took aim at the Liberal Party record.

"Let's not forget that this is the party of children behind razor wire . This is the party who has driven, in this term of government, a very nasty approach with their simple slogan of stop the boats but no solution to deal with the humane needs of asylum-seekers, she said.

"I'm not interested in just allowing for an inquiry that ends up being a witch-hunt and is simply a propping-up of what is a failed and inhumane system.

Regional independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor did not return calls from The Australian yesterday, however Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie said he was inclined to support the opposition's motion".

I look forward to discussing the matter with Scott Morrison in Canberra this week," he said.

The independent member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, said he was willing to listen to the opposition, however he thought inquires in general were a "waste of taxpayer money".

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen yesterday said the Coalition push was not an attempt for genuine reform.

This government is open and accountable about its immigration detention system, unlike the Howard government," a spokesman for Mr Bowen said.

Real inquiry would look at the Coalition's terrible record on detention."

On the Greens aversion to the inquiry, Mr Morrison said the issue of mandatory detention was already covered in the terms of reference. "I've said clearly that, and I quote, 'impact of existing and prospective government policies' would be looked that includes mandatory detention.

Greece votes on where austerity axe falls

Yesterday's market rally on the back of the Greek parliament's decision to move forward with a €78 billion ($105 billion) package of cuts, tax rises and privatisations shows how much investors are hanging out for a resolution of Europe's debt crisis.
Yet it also suggests investors are not too familiar with the classics: the parliamentary vote wasn't a Trojan Horse, but it wasn't a gift from Greece that cured Europe's woes, either.
Last night, the parliament met again amid savage street demonstrations, this time to approve plans for the implementation of the austerity package.
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The numbers on the first vote suggested that this, too, would be approved. The second vote clears the way for the payment of another €12 billion to Greece out of last year's first rescue fund and adds momentum to talks about a second bailout package.
It sparked a worldwide share rally yesterday. In Australia, the ASX200 index shot up by 78.5 points to be above 4600 points again. The euro firmed, European bond spreads narrowed as risk tolerance increased and commodity prices and the Aussie strengthened.
The theory is that the Greek vote and the gathering plans for another rescue package head off a Greek government bond default. Such a default could have pitched Europe's other basket cases into crisis. A cascade of defaults could expand beyond the obvious suspects, Ireland and Portugal, into economies with more economic gravitas and financial counterparty risk, notably Spain and Italy.

Several banks and shopfronts were smashed, while a socialist dissenter who backed the government at the last minute, Alexandros Athanassiadis, was briefly assaulted by protesters after leaving parliament on foot.

Smoke billowed from a post office beneath the Finance Ministry before a fire was put out. Rioters set up burning barricades along Syntagma Square, where demonstrators have staged a sit-in for the past month. Streets were littered with chunks of smashed marble and ripped-up paving stones that had been thrown at police.

A burnt-out van remained within yards of parliament more than a day after youths set it alight.

A general strike that began on Tuesday paralysed the country, grounding planes, leaving ferries docked and stranding tourists during the busy summer season.

Police said yesterday that 49 officers had been injured, one seriously when he was hit in the face by a chunk of marble. Forty-three protesters were detained, with 17 arrested. Emergency services said they had treated 99 protesters and passers-by for injuries.

Across Europe, officials hailed the vote as an act of "national responsibility". "That's really good news," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on her way out of an economic forum in Berlin. Germany is Greece's biggest creditor.

Stephen Parry

Stephen Shane Parry (born 31 October 1960), Australian politician, has been a Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate since July 2005, representing the state of Tasmania. He was elected Government Deputy Whip in the Senate in November 2006 and elected Government Whip in April 2007 in succession to the late Senator Jeannie Ferris. Senator Parry is currently the Deputy President and Chairman of Committees.

Early life
Stephen Shane Parry was born on October 31, 1960 in Burnie, Tasmania to William Stephen Parry and Patricia Dawn Evans. He was educated at Burnie's Marist Regional College, and following matriculation enroled at the Tasmanian Police Academy in Hobart.

Career
Parry was employed as an officer with the Tasmanian Police from 1977 to 1986, and was promoted to Detective in 1983. After leaving the Police force, he completed a certificate in Mortuary Science at the Australian College of Funeral Service and was a funeral director from 1986 to 2004. He was President of the Australian Funeral Directors Association. Parry was also president of the Burnie Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 2000 to 2004, and a director of the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 2000 to 2005.

Politics
In 2004, as a member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Parry was elected to the Australian Senate for the state of Tasmania. He was elected Government Deputy Whip in the Senate in November 2006 and Government Whip in April 2007 in succession to the late Senator Jeannie Ferris. Senator Parry was elected Opposition Whip after the 2007 federal election and on 16 February 2009, in addition to his role as Whip, he was appointed Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.
Stephen Parry is married with two adult sons.
In accdordance with Senate traditions, on the 04 July 2011 Senator Stephen Parry replaced Allan Ferguson and was elected by the Senate, as the Deputy President and Chairman of Committees.

Becoming Human

Becoming Human is a British supernatural drama webisode series and a spin-off from the TV series Being Human. Created by Toby Whithouse, it was written by Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson and John Jackson) and stars Craig Roberts as the teenage vampire Adam (previously seen on Being Human), Leila Mimmack as the werewolf Christa and Josh Brown as the ghost Matt. A composition of the eight episodes (including the finale) was aired on BBC Three at 9:00pm on 20th March 2011.

Plot
Becoming Human continues the adventures of Adam, a 46-year-old vampire in the body of a 16-year old boy, who had originally appeared in the second episode of the third series of Being Human. This episode provided his backstory - Adam had been protected by his parents (who had fed him with their own blood) up until they died of old age, following which he had come under the protection and encouragement of Mitchell, Annie, George and Nina. During his brief time with them, they had encouraged him to live a better and more moral life, keeping his vampire nature undercover, resisting the urge to prey on humans for blood, and surrounding himself with "good" people to encourage his own better behaviour. As Becoming Human begins, Adam has moved elsewhere and is trying to live a normal life as a "human", which at this point involves joining a school and getting some qualifications.
On his first day at the school, Adam manages to embarrass and ostracise himself - his pop-culture references are thirty years out of date and his social skills bizarre. However, he meets another pupil, Christa, who is hiding the fact that she is a werewolf. Christa has also been being followed by a fat, melancholy boy whom she believes is a stalker but whom no-one else can see. When both she and Adam are sent for detention and encounter the boy again, Adam realises that he is a ghost. The ghost introduces himself as Matt and turns out to be a missing student from the school: there are posters up regarding his disappearance, but due to his unpopularity few people have paid attention.
Adam quickly realises that because Matt's ghost is lingering rather than passing on to the afterlife, there must be something unresolved about his death. They discover that he has been murdered, and the three of them set about trying to solve the murder. The task is made more difficult by the fact that Matt's own memories of the event are unclear, and he often blurs them or misleads for various reasons of his own. Among the suspects Adam and his friends investigate are the school bully Danny Curtis (who used to make jokes about Matt's weight and love of eggs), Brandy Mulligan (the "Perfect Plastic" with a dark family secret) and Mr Swan (the foul-tempered PE teacher who verbally abuses students and staff members, including Adam and Christa's six-form tutor Mr Roe).

A sub-plot of the show deals with the uneasy relationship between the trio, which has elements of a rivalry, friendship and love triangle. It is revealed that Matt had a three-year-long unrequited crush on Christa which ultimately led to him being in the boys' toilets he died in, scribbling "an anonymous declaration of love" on the cubicle wall with a key when the murderer attacked him. It's suggested that Adam and Christa also might have feelings for each other, although both deny it. Adam frequently makes crude passes at Christa and takes opportunities to kiss her or be seen doing so (although its unclear whether this is human or vampire-influenced behaviour), while Christa outspokenly rejects and dismisses him. In spite of this, Matt is subject to occasional outbursts of jealousy. Adam, meanwhile, is also trying to deal with his vampire urges and is frequently tempted to "punish" the murderer (once they are discovered) by feeding from them, with Christa acting as moral restraint and Matt struggling with his own desires for revenge.
Following several false leads, a major breakthough is made when Mr Roe lets slip to the trio that Mr Swan has ordered him to clean the same boys' toilets that Matt was drowned in. 

They eventually discover that the CCTV cameras between the toilets and the gym are missing, further implicating Mr Swan in the murder. They begin to suspect that Matt's body is hidden in the gym, because Christa can smell it the day before the full moon. They investigate the gym the night of the full moon-when a werewolf's senses are at their peak- only for Christa to start changing. Matt and Adam discover that they are trapped- someone locked the doors. Matt and Adam lure the transforming Christa into the gym's supply cupboard and barricade the door. In the morning, she is released and they wonder where Matt's body could've been. They initially fear that Christa may have eaten it during her time as a werewolf; but Matt succeeds in finally locating his body- still in the cupboard hidden among cleaning tools.

Mr Swan finds them and they question him, accusing him of the murder. He tells them that Mr Roe had keys to the gym and access to the security cameras, and the trio realise that Roe was listening to their conversations the entire time during detention (while pretending to be listening to music on headphones) and had already fed them a false lead regarding Brandy Mulligan. At this point, Roe appears and knocks out Swan with a baseball bat. Matt uses a chalkboard to ask Roe why he committed the murder, and Adam grabs him by the throat as Roe tells them that he was tired of being pushed around by people, so he "pushed back". Someone had apparently keyed Roe's car, and he'd seen Matt running away from the scene (Matt was innocent, though- he was running from the girl's locker room, where'd he'd been caught peeping). Roe then followed Matt into the toilets and saw Matt carving a symbol of his love for Christa. Roe assumed that Matt was writing yet another insult towards him, so he drowned Matt in a fury.

Renegade Mali soldiers seize presidential palace


The soldiers staged a mutiny against the government's handling of a rebellion in the country's north, which has displaced thousands of people.


Dozens of troops stormed the offices of the state radio and television broadcaster in the capital Bamako, firing off rounds inside the building.


Programs went off air after around 10 minutes of automatic gunfire, but returned within a few hours.


Crowds of youths, some cheering and burning tyres, gathered nearby.


"We now know it is a coup d'etat that they are attempting," a defence ministry official said, asking not to be named.


Calls for calm poured in from abroad as the United Nations, France and United States expressed alarm at the events unfolding.


Sustained gunfire rang out at the palace late on Wednesday (local time) and one of the mutineers told AFP the situation was "largely to our advantage on the ground at the palace".


Elite paratroopers known as the Red Berets had taken up positions around government buildings late in the afternoon, but were called back to defend the presidency, where an advisor to president Amadou Toumani Toure said earlier that the head of state was holed up.


Meanwhile, an independent source said President Amadou Toumani Toure, earlier holed up in the palace as shots were traded outside between the renegade soldiers and loyal guards, had managed to leave the premises.


On Wednesday, an adviser to Toure told AFP that the president was holed up inside the palace, under protection of his elite paratroopers unit known as "Red Berets," who took up position outside government buildings.


Also on Wednesday, renegade soldiers seized the state broadcasting station. Anger had erupted among the soldiers who say they are fed up with a lack of resources and proper weapons as they battle Tuareg insurgents waging a two-month-old war in the north of the country.


The Tuareg rebellion is part of a decades-old bid for independence, and this offensive, the first since 2009, was boosted by the recent return of heavily armed men who fought in Libya for slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi.


France and the US expressed alarm at the unfolding events and urged a peaceful resolution.


"The situation is currently unclear and unfolding quickly," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, urging US citizens to stay indoors.

Video speed trap lurks in new iPad


You'll love the blistering data speeds on the new iPad models with 4G wireless. What you may not love is how fast you could exhaust your monthly data allotment, or the cost of using that data when the preferred method of connecting, Wi-Fi, is unavailable.


Less than 24 hours after purchasing the Verizon Wireless version of the iPad + 4G — and choosing a $30, 2GB monthly data plan from Verizon — I was shocked by the notification on my iPad's screen: "There is no data remaining on your current plan."
My remaining options for the month included changing to a $50 5GB data plan or an $80 10GB plan. (AT&T offers a 250MB plan for $14.99; 3GB for $30; and 5GB for $50.)




The iPad's new high-resolution screen and fast connection are specifically designed to spur greater use of online video -- a long-stated goal for phone companies as well as technology purveyors such as Apple and Google.


Telecom companies in particular are banking on mobile video to drum up demand for their new, fourth-generation networks and create new revenue streams as they adjust to the smartphone age.


That means something has to give: either consumers will have to get used to paying more or wireless carriers will come under pressure to change their pricing models.


Verizon declined to comment on its pricing strategy, but said customers can pick higher-use plans or they can go easier on their data allotments by shifting to WiFi networks when they are available.


Those alternatives don't always line up well with what consumers want.


Albert Park, a 24-year-old working at a start-up in Austin, Texas, tapped into the WiFi network at a local cafe on Sunday to watch some YouTube videos on his iPad. The network turned out to be too slow for an uninterrupted stream, so Mr Park switched to the high-speed mobile network operated by his service provider, AT&T.


For the next hour, Mr Park watched concert videos and other clips and browsed social-media sites. On Tuesday, five days after getting the new iPad, he found he was already two-thirds of the way through his monthly allotment of 3 gigabytes of wireless data.


"I'll probably avoid watching videos outside my home," Mr Park concluded.


Such decisions set up a quandary for wireless carriers, which are rolling out multibillion-dollar high-speed networks that use a technology called LTE. The technology promises to boost mobile download speeds by 10 times compared with third-generation networks, making it almost purpose-built for mobile video.


Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, has the nation's biggest LTE network, covering an area with more than 200 million people. AT&T's LTE network covers 74 million people. Both carriers' LTE networks are still growing, and Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA -- which don't currently carry the iPad -- also have plans to build LTE networks.

FCC paves the way for a Dish 4G LTE network


Rather than connecting directly to telco networks via 3G-enabled tablets, users are avoiding the heavy price tag of these tablets and falling back on Wi-Fi models that make use of ubiquitous coverage in their area. According to research firm IDC's "A/NZ Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker" report, Wi-Fi-only tablets outdid Wi-Fi/3G tablets in the fourth quarter of last year in terms of the number of shipments.


Telstra appears to be betting on this trend to continue in the 4G space, with its 4G wireless hotspot that will launch next Tuesday for consumers. The hotspot provides users with the means to bring their Wi-Fi-only devices to the LTE network.


It is one of the only ways that owners of the new iPad will be able to connect to the faster LTE network, since the iPad doesn't currently support LTE out of the box due to a difference in spectrum bands across the globe.


IDC's report further pointed to the lack of low-priced tablets in the market as a reason for why people are purchasing Wi-Fi-only models.


Even though all the wireless operators who bought spectrum in the 700 MHz auction are using spectrum from the same band, they each use different pieces of it. Rural carriers tend to hold licenses in the lower half of the block, and AT&T also owns some of this spectrum thanks to its bandwidth deal with Qualcomm.
There are all kinds of potential interference issues in this lower portion of the spectrum. But regional carriers want the FCC to make sure that the chipsets for their services are compatible with chipsets for AT&T's service. Otherwise, these smaller carriers say they won't have the volume necessary for handset makers to make devices for their networks. It also means that their customers wouldn't be able to roam onto AT&T's network unless their devices had additional radio technology included.
AT&T has argued in the past that the interference issues are too great and that devices cannot be forced to use the same exact radio technology that will operate across the entire lower portion of the 700 MHz band of spectrum.
So the FCC is looking into whether there's a solution that settles AT&T's interference concerns while also ensuring that smaller carriers can offer competitive handsets and roaming.
AT&T said in a statement after the vote that it "welcomes this proceeding to the extent that it offers an opportunity to find real solutions to the real interference and deployment challenges in the band." But the carrier still claims that a mandatory interoperability requirement would be a mistake.
"Such mandates would be an unprecedented regulatory intrusion into a carrier's right to manage network and device deployment in a manner best suited to serve its customers," Joan Marsh, a vice president of regulatory affairs at AT&T, said in a statement.
Finally, the FCC took up a notice of inquiry from the NTIA, which is proposing to reallocate spectrum at 1695-1710 MHz from government to commercial use. This proceeding will help the FCC determine how it can best use this spectrum.