Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Australia's large contribution of special forces soldiers and commandos in Afghanistan is justified, as the nation mourned the 28th fatality in the mission.

Sergeant Todd Langley, 35, from the Sydney-based 2nd Commando Regiment, died from a gun shot wound to the head during a battle in southern Afghanistan on Monday.

He is the 28th Australian soldier to die in action in Afghanistan since 2001, and the seventh this year.

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Just under half have been special forces and commandos, with many having been on multiple tours.

Australia has about 320 special forces soldiers and commandos in Afghanistan - the third largest contributor of such forces behind the United States and Britain.

Expressing the nation's condolences on Tuesday, Ms Gillard said that being in Afghanistan remained in Australia's national interest.

She said Australia's special forces were lauded around the world.

"We need them in the numbers we have in Afghanistan because they do take the fire up, push back the insurgency," Ms Gillard told reporters in Canberra.

But we will do everything we can to care and support his family and his mates throughout this time and beyond.'

Sgt Langley had been awarded two commendations for distinguished service and had a unit citation for gallantry.

General Hurley said the soldier who was wounded in the engagement was provided with combat first aid at the scene of the engagement.

He was airlifted to a medical facility in Karin Towt and then transferred to a hospital in Kandahar for further treatment.

'From there he has contacted his family,' General Hurley said, adding the soldier was in a serious but stable condition.

The intent of the Australian and Afghan National Army operation on Monday was to disrupt insurgents and deny them a safe haven to plan, coordinate and execute their operations, the general said.

Because the operation is still ongoing, no further details are being released by defence.

General Hurley said the 28 Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of the conflict were not just numbers.

'They are fathers, husbands, sons, brothers and mates,' he said.

'They are soldiers and Australians will not forget their selfless sacrifice.

Backpacker off critical list after emergency surgery

Daniel Moore, a 21-year-old backpacker, sustained serious brain injuries, a fractured skull and internal bleeding last month after catching a taxi from the city to the northern beaches suburb of Manly.

A 29-year-old taxi driver made a statement at Kogarah police station yesterday.

Police identified him after a public appeal for information.

His taxi has been seized for forensic examination.

Daniel remains in a critical but stable condition at Royal North Shore Hospital, nine days after he was found lying on the intersection of Pittwater Road and Collingwood Street, at 3.45am (AEST) on Sunday, June 26.

Mr Moore, 21, was found lying near the corner of Pittwater Rd and Collingwood St, Manly, at 3am on Sunday last week.

He required emergency surgery after being found with a cracked skull and also internal bleeding.

Police and Mr Moore’s parents, who arrived from the UK to be by their son’s side, appealed for information about the incident that has left the British man fighting for his life.

A taxi driver, believed to have driven Mr Moore and a friend to Manly from the CBD that night, has been asked to come forward.

Police said they were still investigating the incident and had yet to ascertain the identity of the driver.

Come Play With Me

Come Play with Me is a 1977 British soft porn film starring Mary Millington and directed by George Harrison Marks. The film's cast list contained many well-known British character actors who were not known for appearing in such films.

Synopsis

Cornelius Clapworthy (Harrison Marks) and his sidekick Maurice Kelly (Alfie Bass) are two elderly forgers responsible for flooding the UK with fake banknotes. On the run from their gangster boss Slasher (Ronald Fraser) and effeminate, cross dressing government official Podsnap (Ken Parry) the pair escape to the Scottish Highlands and posing as musicians hide out at Bovington Manor, a B&B run by Lady Bovington (Irene Handl).

Since Bovington Manor is scarcely attended, Clapworthy and Kelly are free to continue their criminal activities, albeit having to constantly recite "O for the Wings of a Dove" to drown out the noise of the printing press that produces the fake banknotes. However when Lady Bovington’s chorographer nephew Rodney and his troupe of dancing girls arrive at the manor, business picks up considerably when the girls, vaguely under the leadership of Rena (Suzy Mandel) decide - rather generously - to help Lady Bovington out by dressing as nurses and re-opening the Manor as a brothel with topless massages and 'the full treatment' being the order of the day. This means trouble and unwanted attention for Clapworthy and Kelly, especially when the girls’ services bring Slasher and his heavies to the Manor.

Cast

Harrison Marks as Cornelius Clapworthy

Alfie Bass as Kelly

Irene Handl as Lady Bovington

Ronald Fraser as Slasher

Tommy Godfrey as Blitt

Sue Longhurst as Christina

Cardew Robinson as McIvar

Suzy Mandel as Rena

Mary Millington as Sue

Rita Webb as Rita

Queenie Watts as Cafe Girl

Talfryn Thomas as Nosegay

Bob Todd as Vicar

Henry McGee as Deputy Prime Minister

Production history

Harrison Marks had written Come Play With Me's script in 1970 not long after making The Nine Ages of Nakedness, but it was to remain on the shelf while in the ensuing years Marks was declared bankrupt, had been the subject of an obscenity trial, and drank heavily. Marks made ends meet during this period by shooting softcore sex film shorts for the British 8 mm market, as well as hardcore, blue movie shorts for overseas.

In the mid seventies Marks had begun selling explicit photo shoots to porn publisher David Sullivan’s top shelf magazines, such as “Latent Lesbian Fantasy” featuring Cosey Fanni Tutti, which appeared in the first issue of Sullivan's Ladybirds magazine in August 1976. Evidently Marks had also sold Sullivan the rights to some of his 8 mm sex films as well, as adverts by Kelerfern (a Sullivan mail order company) carried Marks directed sex shorts like Hole in One, Nymphomania, King Muff and Doctor Sex for sale around this period. "George was a great entertainer, he was a bit of a drunk really, but he was good fun" Sullivan remarked in the 2005 documentary Oo-Err Missus, “he said to me: "I’ve got this old script I’ve had for years", I said: "give us a look George" and within three weeks we were shooting it”.

Sullivan saw Come Play With Me as a chance to turn his then-girlfriend and magazine cover girl Mary Millington into a film star, as well as an opportunity for some cross-media marketing. Sullivan's magazines like Playbirds and Whitehouse are seen/referenced throughout the film, but it was with promoting the film through his magazines that Sullivan really came into his own. Months before the film's release Sullivan’s readers were promised Come Play with Me would be "the British Deep Throat" and would "make Linda Lovelace look like Noddy". To add credibility to these claims, photo shoots that were only a few shades away from hardcore were published in Sullivan’s magazines and claimed to be stills from the upcoming film, whereas in fact they bore little resemblance to anything in Come Play With Me. A fixture in these photo shoots was hardcore actor Timothy Blackstone, sometimes billed in the articles as “Randy Buck, Esquire”. In spite of this exposure Blackstone does not appear in the actual film.

The hype for Come Play with Me also spread to the letter pages of Sullivan’s magazine, a fan letter of dubious authenticity (as it refers to scenes that don’t appear in the film) from “Bert U” to Mary Millington in Whitehouse, no.27 claims “Dear Mary, I must congratulate you on your film Come Play with Me, I found it screamingly funny and very sexy as well…I loved every randy moment… everyone was so natural, and Henry McGhee (sic) as the PM was superb.” The letter also goes on to falsely claim that the actor Roy Kinnear appears in the film and that “(Roy) looked like a Roman Emperor in the swimming pool scene. I‘ll bet it took him all his time to keep his towel on during rehearsals for the film… it looked to me, Mary, as though you were fucked rigid during the film”.

Several hardcore porn scenes were also shot for Come Play With Me. These would have appeared towards the end of the film, however in the event all traces of actual hardcore sex were cut from these scenes in the pre-release stage and the explicit footage went AWOL soon after. "For real" were the lesbian scene between Mary Millington and Penny Chisholm, as well as the heterosexual sex scenes between Lisa Taylor and Derek Aylward, Suzette Sangalo Bond and an unknown male, and Sonia Svenberger and Gordon Hickman. These scenes do remain in the film, albeit heavily cut down to soft core, with only Penny Chisholm's "flushed" beetroot colored expression during her sex scene with Mary, giving a hint of these scenes' explicit origins.

Regarded by many as the most successful of the British sex comedies of the seventies, the film ran continuously at the Moulin Cinema in London's West End from 1977 to 1981.

Censorship history

Come Play With Me was classified 'X' for theatrical release in 1977 with the following BBFC cuts

Reel 3 - Shot of woman astride a man to massage him in which her vulva is visible from behind was removed.

Reel 4 - Cabaret dancer's act was considerably reduced to remove initial writhing and caressing of her groin over G-string, her writhing alone in 'riding' copulatory movement, the CU of her pubic as she pours liquid over herself, and the shot of her wide-open legs as she covers vulva with her hand.

As Clapworthy urinates into wash basin, initial thrusting shots of man copulating with woman on massage couch were removed.

Reel 9 - In the copulation scene at the beginning of the reel (before Rodney and Christine's eating sex scene), all shots of his buttocks thrusting between her legs and her legs wrapped round him were removed.

In later sex scene (after Rodney and Christine's food scene), woman's dialogue line "Go down harder" and sight of him performing cunnilingus on her were removed. Her head reaction orgasm remained.

Imitations and spin-offs

The success of Come Play With Me, inevitably led to imitation productions sometimes similar in name only, and some more authorized than others.

Come Play With Me (late 1970s) : stage farce loosely based on the film, starring Bob Grant from On the Buses.

Cum Lay With Me (circa 1977) : short 8 mm sex film starring Sonia Svenburger and directed by Harrison Marks.

Come With Me (circa 1977) : audio cassette of sex noises “the turn-on tape of all time” also sold in cartridge format.

Come Play With Me: Part 2 (1980): unrelated Swiss sex film directed by Erwin C. Dietrich, re-titled by Tigon and David Sullivan and promoted as a 'sequel' to their earlier film.

Come Play With Me: Part 3: (1982) see above.

Release history

Come Play With Me was released on 8 mm by Fletcher Films and on VHS by Hokushin Audio Visual in 1979.

The film was periodically released on VHS in the 1980s on a variety of soft core labels, although a 1986 release on the "Pink Climax" label, while claiming to be the Marks film on the video packaging, actually contains the unrelated 'sequel' Come Play With Me part 3 on the tape itself, possibly released in error.

In April 1997 Medusa Pictures released the film on VHS as part of their “X-Films of the Saucy 70s” series (the first release to put the film into a retro/historic context).

The film had two early DVD releases in the UK, the first by Medusa Pictures (1999) with the short 6-minute prologue to the 1980 documentary True Blue Confessions as an extra. The second DVD is copyrighted 2005 and looked to have been derived from an old tape of the film, possibly the Hokushin one, and included the full version of True Blue Confessions, but again the picture appears taken from a VHS.

Doctor's sex, drugs habit 'out of control

Decade later, one was in court for the manslaughter of a female escort as the other - prominent surgeon Charlie Teo - defended his friend's previous good character.

Dr Teo yesterday told the District Court he held former colleague Suresh Nair in extremely high regard, despite the latter admitting to the manslaughter of a female escort in a drug-fuelled binge and supplying cocaine to another escort who also died in similar circumstances.

Dr Teo said he had agreed to "stick his neck out" for Nair, 42, despite advice to the contrary.

"I have a public profile ... but I felt very strongly that Suresh was a good person and people needed to know that," Dr Teo said. Having visited him twice in jail, Dr Teo said Nair was "very remorseful".

The pair met in early 2000, when Nair became registrar at Prince of Wales Hospital. Dr Teo described Nair as "awkward socially" but said his patient care and skills as a brain surgeon were exemplary.

"I spent so many hours with him, I got to know the real Suresh ... (he was) a peaceful sort of soul who cared very much for his patients and I thought he was an excellent neurosurgeon," Dr Teo said.

But he said if he was ever to discover Nair had performed surgery while under the influence of his drug addiction, his opinion would change.

Since being remanded at Silverwater jail 18 months ago, Nair has been the victim of a vicious assault, which resulted in the loss of some vision.

He also faces deportation to Malaysia because he does not hold Australian citizenship, despite migrating here in 1980 at the age of 11.

Nair's barrister, Peter Hamill SC, said his client's "dreadful, debilitating addiction" had resulted in a "tragic waste: the waste of the lives of the victims . . . there's also the awful waste of Mr Nair's incredible talents, 20 years of work down the drain."

But Judge Toner disagreed, saying Nair was not an addict, but a "binge cocaine user" and there was "one dead body too many".

"(It's) a very indulgent crime to me," he said. "On one occasion it led to a death, and he still did it and another died.

Banks prepared for Anonymous hacking plans

In a tweet today, @AnonymousIRC said, "A wild leak appears: for a change, we sail to Australia this time", providing a link to four SQL database dumps belonging to Mosman Municipal Council and the promise of more to come. LulzSec has previously made similar attacks, but over the weekend decided to disband after its 50th day of hacking.


Mosman Municipal Council's manager of IT services, Kevin Nonweiler, confirmed to ZDNet Australia that the council had experienced a breach, but emphasised that no rate-payer information had been compromised and that all the information in the dumps was publicly available information.


Text in the dumps match information that is publicly available on the council's website, confirming the claim. However, one of the files in the dump also contains information for a prototype website that is not yet completed and not indexed by search engines. Nonweiler said that the site had no direct links, so without knowing the address of the site, it was not possible to navigate to. Despite this, a quick Google search reveals the site is mentioned in draft plans on the council's website and, while not linked, could be easily accessed by anyone who had read the public document.


The prototype site currently has placeholder images and text used extensively throughout. Its content also matches information found in the dump, part of which carries a commencement date of July 2011.


Chief executive of the Australian Bankers Association Steven Munchenberg told News that the big banks had put in place adequate measures to bolster their security.


"Bank customers should not be concerned because banks are constantly monitoring for any IT security risks," Mr Munchenberg said.


"Security and protection of customers’ funds are the bedrock of any banking business, so protection and prevention against threats of attack are issues with which banks are accustomed to dealing."


This week Anonymous hacked Mosman Municipal Council’s website after attacking Sony, Bank of America and the CIA’s public website.


Mosman Council IT manager Kevin Nonweiler said that four website databases were leaked in the incident.

Holden to unveil new cars in Melbourne

Baby Boomer with the potential to unseat the Commodore as Australia's favourite car is going on show at the opening of the Australian International Motor Show.

It's the Cruze hatchback, a versatile compact that was designed and developed at Fishermans Bend and will be built in Adelaide as GM Holden steps up its small car push.

The Cruze hatch will also do duty overseas as a Chevrolet.

The new car is much like the existing four-door sedan and promises the economy and efficiency that's missing from the full-sized Commodore.

The Cruze sedan was launched this year and in May topped the small car sales charts.

"Having such a great-looking hatch is really going to be a boost for sales," Holden managing director Mike Devereux said.

Holden designer Martin Love said he would be a keen observer when the public gets to see the hatch from 6pm today.

"We're very proud of the styling but the test comes when you see what the public thinks about it."

The Cruze will be one of 50 concepts and new vehicles, including a $750,000 Lamborghini Aventador, on show at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from tonight until Sunday week.

Holden expects the new Colorado to be the star of its motor show stand ahead of the car's launch in 2012.

Mr Devereux said the show car offered "more than a hint" of what buyers could expect next year.

The Barina and the Cruze Hatch are also likely to draw attention with sales scheduled to start later this year.

The Cruze hatch will be built alongside the sedan model in Adelaide which Mr Devereux said had been a stand-out success for the company, leading its segment last month.

"So we can't wait to see how customers in a hatch market like Australia respond to the car," he said.

"We think the hatch will hit a sweet spot with buyers looking for great design, versatility and practicality."

Mr Devereux said Holden also had plans for more segment-leading models next year, including the electric-powered Volt and the new mid-sized Malibu.

Google

Google lnc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program. The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, often dubbed the "Google Guys", while the two were attending Stanford University as PhD candidates. It was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, and its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. 

At that time Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt agreed to work together at Google for twenty years, until the year 2024. The company's mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", and the company's unofficial slogan – coined by Google engineer Paul Buchheit – is "Don't be evil". In 2006, the company moved to its current headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Google Inc.

It has been estimated that Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world, and processes over one billion search requests and about twenty-four petabytes of user-generated data every day. Google's rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond the company's core web search engine. 

The company offers online productivity software, such as its Gmail email service, and social networking tools, including Orkut and, more recently, Google Buzz. Google's products extend to the desktop as well, with applications such as the web browser Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing software, and the Google Talk instant messaging application. 

Notably, Google leads the development of the Android mobile operating system, used on a number of phones such as the Nexus One and Motorola Droid, as well as Google Chrome OS, which is still under heavy development but is best known as the main operating system on the Cr-48 and is coming also to commercial Chromebooks on June 15. Alexa lists the main U.S.-focused google.com site as the Internet's most visited website, and numerous international Google sites (google.co.in, google.co.uk etc.) are in the top hundred, as are several other Google-owned sites such as YouTube, Blogger, and Orkut. Google also ranks number one in the BrandZ brand equity database. The dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship.

Social Game Developers Keen On Google Plus

Google announced its "field trial" of Google+ this week, many wondered if the search giant had finally crafted a successful social tool or whether it would fizzle like Buzz and Wave. That remains to be seen, but at this point, it appears that many tech-savvy early adopters are at least eager to try it out: invites are now closed.

"We've shut down invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand. We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way. Thank you all for your interest!" Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president of engineering, wrote in Wednesday night post.

Google+ made its debut on Tuesday and aims to connect people via specific friendship circles, interests, location, and more. Those visiting the plus.google.com Web site are currently met with a notice that says Google is "testing with a small number of people," but those who want access can sign up to get an email when it opens to a larger group.

Even those who have been invited, however, are having trouble getting access. "Already invited? We've temporarily exceeded our capacity. Please try again soon," reads a note on the site.

Knight said that RockYou has been working with Google's "social gaming team," and had early access to the network. While he didn't reveal that any Google Plus games are in the works from RockYou, he said, "We are definitely energized by Google Plus and the work that is happening there...We look forward to watching their platform evolve, and to working with them on projects in the future."

For game developers we spoke with, it's the increased level of communication and the tailoring of that communication that is so promising. "Google Plus is a great step for Google. It's clear that they've built it from the ground up with the idea of improving communication with the social web in mind," said Arjun Sethi, CEO of Ravenwood Fair house Lolapps.

Another aspect of Google that has a unique appeal when compared to Facebook is that the company has its massive fingers in major sectors, as it's also owner of a web browser and mobile operating system. Imagine an army of new Android phones and tablets pre-installed with Google Plus, ready to let users access their favorite social games.

"Their approach is simple yet apparent across their Google products," Sethi said. "It will be exciting to see how millions of consumers start adapting to it. For Lolapps specifically, Google Plus will give us the opportunity to extend the ways that we are already innovating upon other social platforms and to see what Google has to offer."

Google itself, perhaps expectedly, isn't quite ready to talk about its gaming plans for Google Plus this early on. But what we do know is that Google has reached out to game developers already, and the gaming space is on the company's Google Plus radar.

"We don't have any specific details to share on our plans around incorporating games into Google Plus," said Google senior manager of global communications and public affairs Katie Watson in a statement. "But, it's important to keep in mind this is an ongoing project and this is just the beginning. We plan to add a lot of features and functionality to Google Plus over time. We're just excited to get started.