Recent Event Highlights: Don't Panic! Summer of Rage in the UK!, Don't Panic - Feb 9 is... quiet? News stories, and 5 more...
Created by dipity on Feb 12, 2009
Last updated: 12/08/10 at 02:39 PM
Australians have long held a love affair with the coast but there's a mounting argument that the dream of a beachfront home should be entered into cautiously. A bi-partisan federal parliamentary committee has suggested that development in low-lying coastal areas vulnerable to sea level rises might need to be banned..... rising sea levels will threaten coastal development + exisitng properties/real estate..... 700000 homes expected to be consumed by the ocean at least..... along with infrastructure! The National Sea Change Taskforce has been established as a national body to represent the interests of coastal councils and communities experiencing the effects of rapid growth and development. The National Sea Change Taskforce was established in 2004 as a national body to represent the interests of coastal councils and communities experiencing the effects of rapid population and tourism growth. The Taskforce now has more than 68 member councils from around Australia. Collectively, these councils represent more than four million residents. The role of the National Sea Change Taskforce is to provide national leadership in addressing the impact of the sea change phenomenon and to provide support and guidance to coastal councils attempting to manage the impact of rapid growth. Current methods of planning, funding and managing rapid population and tourism growth in coastal areas are inconsistent and inadequate. The Taskforce promotes the adoption of a coordinated national approach ...
Feb 23, 2009 Atlantis revealed at last... or just a load of old Googles?: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1150846/Atlantis-revealed--just-load-old-Googles.html Seattle tells dockers: Go home: http://www.cargonewsasia.com/secured/article.aspx?article=18494 US to expand stake in troubled Citigroup: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5787745.ece Nationalisation is most likely way out of US banking mess: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e569820-ff7c-11dd-b3f8-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1 Will Germany deliver on the Faustian bargain that created monetary union?: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/4782749/Will-Germany-deliver-on-the-Faustian-bargain-that-created-monetary-union.html Hypo Real Estate: 600 billion in off-balance sheet assets: http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2009/02/hypo-real-estate-600-billion-in-off-balance-sheet-assets.html Rock to be reborn as a 'good bank': http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/22/northern-rock EU leaders push sweeping regulations: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a896e59e-011f-11de-8f6e-000077b07658.html Britain to demand radical reform of World Bank at G20: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/22/world-bank-g20-global-recession EU leaders call for rapid launch of market reforms: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/256930,eu-leaders-call-for-rapid-launch-of-market-reforms-.html Europe says all markets must be regulated: http://uk.reuters.com/article/companyNewsMolt/idUKSP42335720090222?sp=true IMF emergency fund is doubled to $500bn in global rescue effort: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/23/imf-emergency-fund G20 Preparatory Meeting - European Summit, Berlin Press Meeting): http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/schedule.cfm?page=1&date=02/22/2009&institution=0 Crisis may be worse than Depression, Volcker says http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2029103720090220 Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse": http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2027820120090221 America in distress, a call to Arms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e-6qh9Mnko Peace
I've just been invited to become a YouTube Partner - guess someone noticed the view counts... Should I? It would make it easier, as I wouldn't be restricted to 11 minutes! Northern Rock's losses on repossessed homes soar: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/northern-rocks-losses-on-repossessed-homes-soar-1604907.html Crisis leaves single European banking system 'untenable', FSA says: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/4568642/Single-European-banking-system-is-untenable-FSA--warns.html Weakened banking system is creaking further, warns City watchdog: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/09/recession-financial-crisis-uk-fsa-banks UK terrorists plan new 9/11 attack on US?: http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=85118§ionid=3510203 Bond market calls Fed's bluff as global economy falls apart: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/4560901/Bond-market-calls-Feds-bluff-as-world-falls-apart.html Vodafone and Hutchison to merge in Australia: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1e1af810-f68e-11dd-8a1f-0000779fd2ac.html Here's some simple maths - if the US has 300M people and the UK has 60M, then a 600,000 jobloss in Jan in the US would be equal to a jobloss count of 120,000 in the UK. Guess what the Bank of England is about to tell us? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4561002/Bank-of-England-to-warn-recession-will-last-far-longer-than-Governments-forecast.html ---- Full Moon Madness ---- Eta car bomb targets BAA-owner in Madrid: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5692580.ece Public celebrations, private doubts: the unfinished business of Iran 30 years on: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5689530.ece Indian discount retail giant hit by looting: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/india/article5692511.ece Today is the end of the Chinese New Year festivities... China dragon dancers riot: police: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.48ff90024d54e34fcad502f0fee2114a.601&show_article=1 Flames spotted at iconic Beijing TV headquarters: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1458405.php/Flames_spotted_at_iconic_Beijing_TV_headquarters_ Massive Blaze Engulfs New Beijing Tower: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123419045021563711.html Australian PM says arsonists guilty of mass murder as bushfire toll rises to 131: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5691759.ece How long is a day? 48 Hours? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_date_line Peace
Watch High Quality http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dYn4UhhaNtw Vocalist Taylor Skinner and Brandon Burek and his signed celebrity Les Paul guitar conclude the Sherway Christmas concert with an emotional rendition of Canada's Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Music direction by Simon Lukasewich, vocal coach Susan Virtue and production by Bill Zufelt. www.SherwayMusic.com Recommended for CBC's Music list to Barack Obama Signed Les Paul Studio guitar by Gibson, ANDY KIM, RON SEXSMITH, LARRY GOWAN, DRU, ALEX LIFESON, EMM GRYNER, THE KINGS and KEVIN DREW & BRENDAN CANNING from Broken Social Scene and proceeds benefit the Sanfilippo Children's Research Foundation. LONDONIn one of the more unlikely pairings in musical history, music legend Leonard Cohen has had his Canadian bacon saved by none other than American Idol judge Simon Cowell. Cowell, the music impresario known here for his snide comments on the British equivalent of American Idol, called The X Factor, selected Cohen's classic ballad "Hallelujah" as the first single for recording by this year's winner. The song immediately captured Britain's most coveted musical accolade: it is, as of yesterday evening, the official "Christmas Number One" or "CNO." The good news doesn't end there. A 1994 version of the song by the late Jeff Buckley, championed by music fans who rebelled against the rendition by X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, is No. 2 on the chart. And that's not all. Cohen's own version came in at No. 36. "Chart placings at 1, 2 and 36 are remarkable for a 25-year-old song which has never previously reached the top 40," said Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company. It's also the first time in more than 40 years that one title has secured the top two places in the charts, according to The Times online. Fans of the Richard Curtis's 2003 movie Love Actually will recall that becoming the top-selling single for Christmas week is as much of a seasonal tradition in Britain as the Queen's speech and a stuffed turkey. Music promoters time their releases to cash in on the music-buying frenzy that seems to grip Britain at this time of year, when fans take a personal stake in the fortunes of their chosen CNO. Cowell, with his record company Syco, a branch of Sony BMG, is no exception. Past winners of the Christmas Number One have included Band Aid's 1984 "Do They Know It's Christmas"; the Spice Girls' "2 Become 1" in 1996; Human League's "Don't You Want Me" in 1981; and Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" in 1992. The new version of "Hallelujah" will also earn Cohen more money than Burke, 20, who beat out a 16-year-old boy from Northern Ireland to take the X Factor title last Saturday night. Burke's £1 million record "deal" only nets her £150,000 ($285,000) in cash, with the rest being soaked up in production and promotion costs to launch her star. The hype around the raspy-voiced Cohen has reached fever pitch in recent days, with an editorial in The Times newspaper declaring that the 74-year-old "is not only Canada's greatest singer (where are his rivals? Céline Dion?), but also its sweetest poet." Within minutes of Burke's win on Dec. 13, her pre-recorded version of "Hallelujah" was available for sale online. The single CD hit stores the next day and soared to the top of the charts. Royalty estimates began the week at roughly £500,000, but as sales soared that number climbed closer to £1 million, which should go a long way to easing Cohen's recent, well-documented financial woes. Luckily for Cohen, his most famous tune has not been butchered. In the high stakes of winning The X Factor, the best voice won and Burke's gospel-style version earned popular and critical acclaim.
Deadly Tibet Riot, staged by Germany and Washington. http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56145 ----------------- Tourists speak of shock and fear at Tibet riots http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3578941.ece 1--- Get into the truth before you sign up for something that's going to do more harm than good. 2--- Because of too much media freedom, it is now the people who are controlling the media. People like drama and romance. Fighting for freedom and fighting against Communism is romantic and dramatic. It is considered "sexy" in the western world. So the media all cater to their taste and the reports are naturally biased. It's not the fault of media because these guys also need to get ratings and make money. 3--- Tourists describe 'merciless' beatings of Chinese in Tibet KATHMANDU, March 18 (AFP) Mar 18, 2008 Rampaging Tibetan youths stoned and beat Chinese people in the Tibetan capital and set ablaze stores but now calm has returned after a military clampdown, tourists emerging from the Himalayan region said Tuesday. "It was an explosion of anger against the Chinese and Muslims by the Tibetans," 19-year-old Canadian John Kenwood told AFP, describing an orgy of violence that swept the ancient city of Lhasa. Kenwood and other tourists, who arrived by plane in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Tuesday, witnessed the unrest, which reached a climax on Friday when they said Han Chinese as well as Muslims were targeted. They described scenes in which mobs relentlessly beat and kicked ethnic Han Chinese, whose influx into the region has been blamed by Tibetans for altering its unique culture and way of life. Kenwood said he saw four or five Tibetan men on Friday "mercilessly" stoning and kicking a Chinese motorcyclist. "Eventually they got him on the ground, they were hitting him on the head with stones until he lost consciousness. "I believe that young man was killed," Kenwood told AFP, but added he could not be sure. He said he saw no Tibetan deaths. Tibet's government-in-exile said on Tuesday the "confirmed" Tibetan death toll from more than a week of unrest was 99. China has said "13 innocent civilians" died and that it used no "lethal" force to subdue the rioting. The Tibetans "were throwing stones at anything that drove by," Kenwood said. "The young people were involved and the old people were supporting by screaming -- howling like wolves. Everyone who looked Chinese was attacked," said 25-year-old Swiss tourist Claude Balsiger. "They attacked an old Chinese man on a bicycle. They hit his head really hard with stones (but) some old Tibetan people went into the crowd to make them stop," he said. Kenwood recounted another brave rescue when a Chinese man was pleading for mercy from rock-wielding Tibetans. "They were kicking him in the ribs and he was bleeding from the face," he said. "But then a white man walked up... helped him up from the ground. There was a crowd of Tibetans holding stones, he held the Chinese man close, waved his hand at the crowd and they let him lead the man to safety." Reacting to the tourists' accounts, Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala, called the violence "very tragic." The Tibetans "have been told to keep their struggle non-violent," he told AFP by telephone. The unrest began after Tibetans marked on March 10 the 49th anniversary of their failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Then, Tibet's Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama trekked through the Himalayas and crossed into India, making Dharamshala a base after the revolt. By last Saturday, Chinese security forces had locked down the Tibetan capital. The Chinese military ordered tourists to stay in their hotels from where they said they could hear gunfire and tear gas shells exploding. On Monday the tourists were allowed some movement but had to show their passports at frequent checkpoints. "Shops were all burnt out -- all the merchandise was on the street in a bonfire. Many buildings were gutted," said Serge Lachapelle, a tourist from Montreal in Canada. "The Muslim district was entirely destroyed -- every store was destroyed," said Kenwood. "I was able to go and eat in a restaurant (outside the hotel) this morning (Tuesday). The Tibetans were not smiling anymore," he said.
Video for the first Northern Kings single We Don't Need Another Hero (Originally by Tina Turner). Director: Niina Miettinen www.northernkings.com
Official Bearforce1 videoclip of their first single, Bearforce1
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