| |
Australia has the upper hand heading into the final day of play in second cricket test in Melbourne
Australia has South Africa on the ropes after four days of the second cricket test in Melbourne.
At stumps, the Proteas are struggling at 99 for six in their second innings, chasing 366 to win.
Skipper Graeme Smith is the only batsman to offer any significant resistance, making 25.
Shane Warne has picked up three wickets for 43 runs off 15 overs, while Andrew Symonds has chipped in with two for six off four overs.
South Africa has also received some bad news off the pitch, with Makhaya Ntini ruled out of the third test with a knee injury.
Ntini suffered a torn medial ligament during Australia’s second innings on Wednesday.
Soure: tmcnet.com
Juice maker Berri now 100% foreign
Australia’s biggest juice maker, Berri Ltd, has now transferred completely into foreign ownership, with Asian beverages giant San Miguel Corp buying out the rest of the company it didn’t already own.
Philippines-based San Miguel has purchased the remaining 49 per cent stake in Berri – the company behind brands such as Australian Fresh, Daily Juice and Just Juice – for $169 million from former Berri chairman Doug Shears.
Mr Shears originally sold 50 per cent of the company to San Miguel for $167.5 million in August last year, with San Miguel soon after buying an additional one per cent from him to gain majority ownership.
San Miguel’s move to clean up the rest of the company has been widely expected since its $1.9 billion takeover of Australian dairy group National Foods Ltd earlier this year.
More: news.ninemsn.com.au
Australia still top dogs despite Ashes woe
Australia’s domination of world cricket was seriously challenged in 2005 for the first time this century after the most dramatic series in living memory.
England’s 2-1 victory over Ricky Ponting’s team wrested the sport’s oldest prize out of Australian hands for the first time since 1989.
Although Ponting’s men recovered quickly to crush West Indies 3-0 and consolidate their position at the top of the world rankings, the defeat by England showed up clear chinks in their armour.
Elsewhere in 2005, the global pecking order remained largely unchanged with South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies vying for the minor placings and Zimbabwe plunging further into trouble on and off the pitch.
In the Ashes series in England the hosts fought back from heavy defeat in the first test at Lord’s to force a nail-biting victory at Edgbaston.
Australia clung on for a draw at Old Trafford but England would not be denied at Trent Bridge, where they scrambled home by three wickets after being set just 129 for victory.
More: today.reuters.co.uk
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Drops, Led by Rinker and James Hardie
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell from a record, led by Rinker Group Ltd. as home sales dropped in the U.S., its biggest market.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 10.1, or 0.2 percent, to 4762.4 as of 10:20 a.m. in Sydney. About three stocks fell for every two that gained.
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.5 percent to 3373.01 as of 12:20 p.m. in Wellington.
Rinker, the biggest supplier of cement blocks in the U.S., fell 23 cents, or 1.4 percent, to A$16.54. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest supplier of home siding in the U.S., slid 7 cents, or 0.8 percent, to A$8.93. Both companies get more than 75 percent of their sales in the U.S.
U.S. stocks dropped as sales of previously owned homes declined by a worse-than-expected 1.7 percent last month to the lowest level in eight months, increasing concern the world’s biggest economy will falter in 2006.
The benchmark index is poised for an 18 percent rise this year, after a 23 percent jump in 2004, the best performance in more than a decade.
More: bloomberg.com
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Drops, Led by Rinker and James Hardie
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell from a record, led by Rinker Group Ltd. as home sales dropped in the U.S., its biggest market.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 10.1, or 0.2 percent, to 4762.4 as of 10:20 a.m. in Sydney. About three stocks fell for every two that gained.
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.5 percent to 3373.01 as of 12:20 p.m. in Wellington.
Rinker, the biggest supplier of cement blocks in the U.S., fell 23 cents, or 1.4 percent, to A$16.54. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest supplier of home siding in the U.S., slid 7 cents, or 0.8 percent, to A$8.93. Both companies get more than 75 percent of their sales in the U.S.
U.S. stocks dropped as sales of previously owned homes declined by a worse-than-expected 1.7 percent last month to the lowest level in eight months, increasing concern the world’s biggest economy will falter in 2006.
The benchmark index is poised for an 18 percent rise this year, after a 23 percent jump in 2004, the best performance in more than a decade.
More: bloomberg.com
Australias PBL holds up following Packer death
Australias Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd is expected to continue to pursue growth through its casino business, with little likelihood of a quick-fire break-up of the news-to-gaming group following the death of media mogul Kerry Packer.
Shares in PBL eased just 2% yesterday after the death of Australias richest man, supported by confidence in a management team assembled in recent years and as analysts and fund managers played down prospects of breaking up the A$11.2bn ($8.2bn) group now controlled by Packers son.
James Packer, 38, was expected to continue chasing growth through the casino business, which is expanding in Asia with joint venture partner Melco International Development Ltd.
What were the growth areas a few days ago are the same (now). Clearly, the gaming business has been the focus, said Martin Conlon, head of Australian equities at Schroder Investment Management Australia.
James Packer is widely reported to be less committed to the television business than his father, but analysts said he was unlikely to sell the top-ranked Nine Network in the short-term, particularly as it is still restructuring after a challenge to its ratings dominance by Seven Network Ltd I dont necessarily think the outlook for gaming is inhibited by the TV network, and both can be run quite successfully together, said media analyst Craig Shepherd at broker Commonwealth Securities.
More: gulf-times.com
Middle East: Fatah Heals Split Ahead Of Vote
The rival factions in the Palestinian ruling party Fatah have agreed to heal their damaging split and file a single list of candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections in the territories. Members of the younger ‘new guard’ said Wednesday they are prepared to enter a unified list to boost the chances of Fatah, which is facing a strong challenge from militant group Hamas. The announcement was made at a news conference at the electoral commission office in Ramallah.
“We are registering the new unified Fatah list,” said Sameeh Abdel Fatah, a senior aide to president Mahmoud Abbas. “The unity means the tension and inner struggles are over. Both lists have agreed to unite and end the strife,” Fatah added.
Splits within the party had prompted the submission of a rival list earlier this month, headed by jailed activist Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti and other young generation leaders have challenged veteran leaders seen as tainted by corruption.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had tried to close the gap by agreeing to put Barghouti’s name at the top of his party list and including those of other rebel faction leaders.
More: adnki.com
Middle East: Israeli Jets Strike Camp In Lebanon
Israeli jets have attacked what the army says is a Palestinian militant group’s training base in southern Lebanon early on Wednesday, hours after an Israeli border town was hit by rocket fire. The Israeli military says the raid was against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (FPLP-GC) whom it accuses of launching three Katiusha rockets against the Israeli city of Qiryat Shmona on Tuesday night. The FPLP-GC, a small Syrian-backed group, denied involvement in the rocket attacks which damaged several homes but caused no injuries.
The Israeli air strike was the deepest in Lebanon since June 2004 targeting the PFLP-GC guerrilla base at Naameh, a hilltop site some 7 kilometres south of Beirut.
In a statement the Israeli army said it considered the Lebanese government responsible for these attacks, for not having dismantled terrorist organisations operating in Lebanon.
The PFLP-GC commander in Lebanon, Anwar Raja, told the AP that two guerrillas were slightly wounded in the strike, which caused “limited” material damage and shattered the windows of nearby houses.
He denied that the PFLP-GC was responsible for the firing of Katyushas on northern Israel. Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and the mainstream Fatah Palestinian faction denied involvement in firing late Tuesday on Kiryat Shemona.
More: adnki.com
Australia loses media mogul Kerry Packer
Uncompromising media proprietor who became Australia’s richest man and dragged cricket into the television age
KERRY PACKER grew up in the shadow of a famous father and achieved a stature far beyond that of a parent who always treated him with chilling lack of consideration.
Sir Frank Packer was a rumbustious Sydney media mogul, but his younger son was to outstrip him in wealth, fame and influence. Kerry Packer was accepted as Australia’s wealthiest individual, his fortune estimated at Adollars 7 billion (nearly pounds 3 billion).
He was a television and magazine proprietor of immense significance, a skilled player in political lobbying, an enthusiastic gambler, and best known in Britain for the sporting revolution he set off in 1977 with his rebel World Series Cricket. Politicians operated in constant uncertainty about his next move – eager for his support but ready to block efforts to extend his media empire to what they saw as dangerous proportions.
Packer had a name as a bully to his employees, not least his executives, and extended his profanity-spattered truculence to politicians and businessmen. But he could also exude rough-hewn charm, and long-serving staff, valued friends and good causes could benefit from his extraordinary (and sometimes anonymous) generosity.
More: thedailyjournalonline.com
Australia in command in Melbourne
Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden put Australia in control of the second Test with a 154-run lead over South Africa on the third day on Wednesday.
Hayden was in sight of his 23rd Test half century on 45 not out to guide the home side to 110 for two at the close after Symonds took a career best three for 50 to help dismiss South Africa for 311.
“It’s a tricky game and to be able to contribute in an important session like that felt good,” said Symonds.
The talented Symonds has been under pressure to hold on to the all rounder’s spot in the side after a poor run of form with the bat.
Brad Hodge on 17 not out was with Hayden at the wicket at the close at the MCG.
“I just felt it was an important time of the game and to be contributing at that stage of the game would have made me feel good anyway, even if I had been scoring runs, so it was a great relief as well,” Symonds told reporters.
More: edition.cnn.com
Australia’s PBL holds up after Packer death
Shares in Australia’s Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL) eased just 2 per cent yesterday after the death of media mogul Kerry Packer, supported by confidence in a management team assembled in recent years.
Analysts and fund managers played down the likelihood of any quick break-up of the $A11.2 billion ($NZ12.2 billion) media and gaming group built up by Australia’s richest man and now controlled by his son James, PBL’s executive chairman.
The younger Packer is widely reported to be less committed to the television business than his father, but analysts said he was unlikely to sell the top-ranked Nine Network in the short-term, particularly as it is still restructuring after a challenge to its ratings dominance by Seven Network Ltd.
“I don’t necessarily think the outlook for gaming is inhibited by the TV network, and both can be run quite successfully together,” said media analyst Craig Shepherd at broker Commonwealth Securities.
The death of Packer, 68, an old-fashioned media mogul and a feared but shrewd businessman, was announced on the company’s Nine TV network on Tuesday.
More: stuff.co.nz
The Melbourne Observation Deck
The 253-metre-high Rialto Towers Building is the tallest office building in the southern hemisphere and one of the most recognized icons in Melbourne. Take the high-speed lift to Level 55 for the Melbourne Observation Deck, which boasts spectacular 360-degree views of Melbourne and the surrounding area. Other facilities include a gift shop, licensed caf, function room, binoculars & Zoom City interactive cameras. Melbourne Observation Deck is located on level 55 of the famous Rialto Towers, which is the tallest office building in the Southern Hemisphere at the height of 232 meters. The Observation Deck is located in the city center and offers breath-taking 360-degrees views of Melbourne and surrounds.
The Melbourne Observation Deck also offers many facilities. These include:
Rialto Vision Theatre
Included with admission, this is a 20-minute film about Melbourne and Victorian tourist attractions.
Information Booth
The Information Booth is located on the Observation Deck, and opens seven days a week from 10:00am 8:00pm providing a booking and information service for all visitors.
Open every day of the year, the Deck’s facilities include visitor help center, multi-lingual staff, licensed cafe bar, souvenir outlets, Rialto Vision (a 20 minute film spectacular) and free use of high powered binoculars.
Melbourne Zoo
Opened on this site in 1862, Melbourne Zoo is the oldest zoo in Australia. It is believed to be the eleventh oldest zoo in the world. It offers more than 350 animal species from Australia and around the world are on view just 4 km from the centre of Melbourne, in a botanic garden setting of 55 acres / 22 hectares. Special attractions at the Zoo include the African Rainforest, Asian Rainforest, Great Flight Aviary, the fur seals pool and penguins pool. The Zoo is open every day from 9am to 5pm, with a Zoo Twilights program extending the viewing hours on selected evenings in January, February and March. Melbourne Zoo is an historic zoo with an innovative master plan that displays a representative sample of the world’s fauna and flora in a series of bioclimatic (or habitat) zones. Melbourne Zoo is clearly one of the world’s great zoos. Follow the Wild Clues around the Zoo & you’ll discover the many weird & wonderful animals that call Melbourne Zoo home. Visit the Wild Stops to collect your clues & puzzle pieces to help solve the identity of the mystery animal. Dont miss the new Keeper talks & the Discovery Table offered by Friends of the Zoos Guides.
Melbourne Zoo is located only minutes from the city centre, within Royal Park. Melbourne Zoo is an historic zoo with an innovative master plan that displays a representative sample of the world’s fauna and flora in a series of bioclimatic (or habitat) zones. Melbourne Zoo is clearly one of the world’s great zoos. Visitors can wander through an African and Asian rainforest displaying gorillas, pygmy hippopotamus, mandrills, tigers and otters, or see an extensive collection of Australian animals including koalas, kangaroos, wombats and platypus. Other highlights include the steamy Butterfly House (where hundreds of Australian butterflies alight upon visitors), the Wonderful New World of Bugs and regular meet-the-keeper opportunities throughout the day.
Melbourne City Centre
The city centre is a combination of modern high-rise and beautiful historical buildings. Melbournes city centre is very well laid out in a grid. Latrobe St borders the north, Flinders St the south, Spring St the east and Spencer St the west. The city centre is filled with amazing eateries, not all of them in obvious locations. The smaller city streets hide some of the best Greek, Italian and other cosmopolitan eateries.
China Town occupies two blocks of the city, starting at the corner of Swanston and Little Bourke streets. The Bourke St Mall sits between Swanston and Elizabeth streets and is one of the main shopping areas. The State Library of Victoria is across Swanston St and St Pauls Cathedral is on the corner of Swanston and Flinders St, across from the famous Flinders St Station. Parliament House is on Spring St to the east and the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens are on the northern edge.
The world famous Melbourne Cricket Ground, (MCG) lies across Wellington Parade, as does Melbourne Park, home of the Australian Open Tennis Championships.
St Paul’s Cathedral
Built from 1880 to 1892 from the designs of William Butterfield, a famous English Gothic revival architect, Anglican St. Paul’s Cathedral is noteworthy for its highly decorative interior and the English organ built by T. S Lewis. Step inside to see gold mosaics on walls, Victorian tessellated tiles on the floors, intricate woodcarvings, and stained-glass windows. The cathedral sports the second highest spire (98m/321 ft.) in the Anglican Communion. A boys’ choir sings at 5:10pm Monday through Friday during school times, and on Sunday at 10:30am and 6pm. Outside is a statue of Matthew Flinders, the first sailor to navigate the Australian mainland between 1801 and 1803.
Melbourne’s social, cultural and spiritual compass points meet at Flinders and Swanston Street, with a landmark on each corner: Federation Square, Flinders Street Station, Young and Jackson’s pub, and St Paul’s Cathedral.
It looks out of time because it is one of the only major buildings in Melbourne that dates from before the 1850s gold rush. The church with its fortress mentality would look quite at home sitting amongst companions of its own age and attitude in The Rocks in Sydney. But it looks more like a lonely ancient relic in ‘modern’ (i.e. 1880s) Melbourne.
State Library
The State Library of Victoria’s Picture Collection forms a comprehensive visual record of the state and its people. The 650,000 images in the Collection constitute the oldest visual historical collection in Australia, illustrating the development of Victoria from the 1850s to the 1990s. Also included are some interstate and overseas views.
Of the Library’s Picture Collection, over 160,000 images have been digitized and made available online via the Library’s Pictures Catalogue. The Pictures Catalogue also contains some images from the Australian manuscripts, map, rare books and other special collections
The scope of the Library’s digitised content covers a diverse range of themes and collections. Content includes such subject areas as Melbourne and Victorian street scenes, buildings, ships, country views, costume, flora and fauna, portraits, Australian Aborigines, political and social events particularly of the nineteenth century, aerial views of Melbourne, factory interiors, domestic architecture, furniture, household goods and appliances, topographical, geological, botanical, agricultural and mining scenes, Federation commemorative arches and Boer War celebrations.
The State Library in Swanston Street is always worth a visit, and particularly since the refurbishment of the dome in the main reading room has been completed.
City Baths
Melbourne City Baths is a total health, fitness and wellbeing centre. A triangular piece of land on the corner of Swanston and Franklin Streets was chosen and the City Baths was opened on 9 January 1860. People flocked to the baths and it was reported that 79,096 men and 2,950 women enjoyed the facilities in the first year.
Set in a beautiful and historically significant building, the Melbourne City Baths boasts one of the largest and most diverse ranges of services, activities, equipment and programs on offer in the heart of the city.
Melbourne City Baths aims to promote an awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and to provide quality opportunities to enhance the health, fitness and wellbeing of the people who work, live, study and visit the City of Melbourne.
Queen Victoria Market
If you only have time to visit one place in Melbourne, then it should be the Vic Market. But try to visit while all the produce stalls are operating (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings) because they make up the real heart of the market. This is a working market with meat, fish, bakery and delicatessen sections as well as scores of fruit and vegetable vendor’s stalls and general merchandise. The Queen Victoria Market is more than just Melbourne’s shopping mecca – it is a historic landmark, a tourist attraction and an institution for Melburnians. There are more than 1000 stalls, most of them set up outdoors under tin roofs with iron gables. The market has a separate meat hall and a delicatessen area renowned for Greek, Italian and Polish food. The area where the back open-air sheds stand used to be Melbournes first cemetery.
Over the years, the market has been a wholesale fruit and vegetable market, and has gone through various expansions and changes reflecting the shopping habits of the growing Melbourne populace. On Sundays there is a wine market. Cafes and restaurants pop up around the market. Fresh is the flavor of the market. More than fresh seafood and fresh fruits and vegetables, the market takes a fresh approach. Find clothing, baggage, toys, jewelry, new-age products and souvenirs at sinful prices. The Vic Market brings city people in touch with earthy realities. It is very clear that meat comes from dead animals; that vegetables are grown in dirt; that sweat and energy is part of commerce; and that Collingwood will win the Grand Final this year. Buy yourself sausage in a roll from the Bratwurst Shop and sit outside and watch Melbourne pass by. Particularly the children who believe that this is what life is like – only to be surprised when they move away from Melbourne.
Scots and St Michael’s churches
Located on the corner of Collins and Russell Streets, St Michael’s is a unique Christian presence in the city of Melbourne. It offers a wide variety of experiences for growth and change. It is a place which affirms and encourages the best expression of who you are and who you can be, through relevant theology, Sunday Service, numerous support programs and its commitment to counseling and psychotherapy. It is one of Melbourne’s architectural treasures Its impressive facade and splendid interior makes St Michael’s a truly magnificent venue for a wedding, baptism or other special event.
St. Michael’s Church was built in the mid-14th century, originally serving as the college chapel of Michaelhouse. Today it is used as the parish for Great St. Mary’s Church. Much of the original decorated gothic design remains. In 1908, the parish was amalgamated into that of Great St Mary’s, and the church is now used for book sales and meetings. It also houses the Harambee Centre, which promotes education and understanding about underdeveloped countries.
Batemans Bay
A delightful small holiday/fishing town on the Clyde River it was named by Captain Cook in 1770 for the captain of one of his previous ships. Being the closest coastal town to Canberra it attracts many visitors and is renowned for its crayfish and oysters.
BATEMANS BAY, at the mouth of the Clyde River and the end of the highway from Canberra, is a favourite escape for the landlocked residents of the capital, just 152km away. Its not the most exciting place on the coast, but since its a fair-sized resort, theres plenty to do.
Batemans Bay Tourist Information is on Princes Highway, at the corner of Beach Road (daily 9am5pm). As youd expect of a resort, accommodation consists mainly of motels and a wide range of holiday units; most of the latter require a minimum weeks booking during peak summer times. Try Bay Surfside, 7km out of town at 662 Beach Rd, whose units sleep up to six and have all mod cons. Theres camping at eight caravan parks including the Coachhouse Marina Resort, by the beach on Beach Road 1km south of town, with a pool and tennis court; and Batemans Bay Tourist Park, close to town (but not the beach) and with a YHA hostel section attached. Mogendoura Farm, on Hawdons Road, 8km west of Moruya on the Moruya River, offers cottage farmstays with horse-riding, canoeing and bushwalking opportunities; minimum booking is two nights.
Theres a range of restaurants in Batemans Bay, mainly with fish and seafood-based menus.
Old Mogo Town Museum
Old Mogo Town Museum is a reconstruction of a mid-nineteenth-century goldrush town near an old gold mine. The best time to come, however, is Sunday morning when theres a bric-a-brac market held here. Twenty-five kilometres south of Batemans Bay, just before Moruya, a small, unsealed road turns off the highway to the west, heading through a pretty valley and then up over hills at the edge of the remote Deua National Park to the former goldrush town of Araluen where, between 1868 and 1872, about fifteen thousand prospectors congegrated in the hope of striking it lucky.
Murramarang National Park
One of the main features of this park are the kangaroos at Pebbly Beach. With wonderful beaches, stunning headlands, cliffs and rock platforms the park is popular for swimming and fishing. Located 10km north of Batemans Bay. Camping areas are available at Pebbly Beach, South Durras and Merry Beach.
Murramarang National Park
Murramarang National Park is a small coastal strip just north of town, there are campsites at Pretty Beach, Pebbly Beach and Durras Beach popular not only with campers but also with kangaroos, which come here at dawn or dusk to frolic on the beach. Rumour has it that they even enjoy body surfing.
|
|
|
|
