* Bombs kill 15 in Pakistan
* Selling Che Guevara's hair, butcher still celebrated by left
* Cannibis to cure Anorexia?
* Renters suffering from State policy
* Police to target truant student protestors, but the violent ones?
* Premier singing strange song, different to previous utterances.
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The world's heaviest pig has been sacrificed as part of a religious ceremony, sparking fury among animal welfare groups.
The animal, which was force fed sand and metal to reach its record breaking weight of 908kg (143 stone), could not even stand as it had its throat slit at the ritual in Taiwan.
Activists filmed the animal squealing in terror before it was bled to death and paraded before a crowd on Saturday – even though officials have banned the event.
from http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=64437&in_page_id=2
The annual Pig of God festival involves a heaviest pig contest, with the winner sacrificing their animal in honour of the president.
A World Society for the Protection of Animals spokesman said: 'We want to bring a complete end to this grotesque freak show.'
Police in the town of Hsin Chu are reluctant to enforce a ban on the contest.
Anti-APEC demonstration in central Sydney
from news.com.au
ANTI-APEC demonstrators this evening staged an early protest against US President W. George Bush with 200 people at a rally near Central Station.
This rally came just hours before Mr Bush was to fly in to Sydney ahead of the weekend meeting of 21 world leaders.
Amid chants of "go home Bush", Stop Bush Coalition spokesman Alex Bainbridge said a strong police presence and other deterrents would not dissuade protesters.
Some protesters carried banners as about 60 police, some of them members of the riot squad, watched their movements.
"This is a scare tactic by the police and the government," Mr Bainbridge said.
"I think there is a lot more people who are prepared to say that they can't let this intimidation go ahead and will come along and support us anyway."
Speakers at today's rally included a member of the Iraq Veterans Against The War group.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said today that protesters would not be allowed into designated areas of Sydney's CBD during APEC because of the threat of violent demonstrations .
A Supreme Court judge will decide as early as tomorrow morning whether a protest march of up to 20,000 people on Saturday will be allowed to pass through Martin Place.
Mr Scipione said police had been negotiating with the Stop Bush Coalition to facilitate a peaceful protest but those negotiations had landed the issue in court.
"Our intelligence tells us there is an intent to act violently."
Mr Scipione said if the court ruled in favour of the police he was unsure protesters would abide by the ruling.
"I'm hopeful. I'm not confident," he said.
But he said the legislation for APEC allowed police to preclude protesters from entering declared areas.
"We've always said that we're not going to allow protesters to march in the declared areas – that won't change."
He also warned bystanders not to get involved in what would appear to be a violent protest.
NSW Police Minister John Watkins warned children not to join in any protests that may take place tomorrow.
"Our very strong message to school kids and to their parents is that tomorrow is a school day – you're expected to be at school," Mr Watkins said.
Police to target truant student protesters
POLICE will tomorrow mount a blitz in Sydney against students skipping school to attend anti-APEC protests.
And if students take part in violent action, they will be arrested, New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione warned.
The Walkout Against Bush action, which school students have been actively encouraged to attend, will begin at 1pm (AEST) tomorrow at Belmore Park, near Sydney's Central Station.
Mr Scipione said police would identify truants and notify their parents and schools.
"Truancy operations don't allow us to arrest children – that's not what they're about," Mr Scipione said.
"They're about ensuring that parents and the school know that children are in locations where they're not authorised to be.
"However, if they break the law, if they commit an offence, they'll be treated like any other person."
Mr Scipione said parents had an obligation to know where their children are.
"If their children go and get caught up in a mob that becomes violent and there is a protest, and they're involved in any way, they'll be subject to arrest and that certainly means they'll be dealt with severely," he said.
But some parents said the NSW Government deserved to be condemned for attempting to silence students.
Susan Walder, who is the mother of a St Ives High School Year 9 student intending to participate in the walkout, said she would be at Belmore Park tomorrow to monitor police behaviour.
"I am concerned by the recent comments by NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Education Minister John Della Bosca that students who protest when George Bush visits Sydney in September are `ferals' and will face a `dangerous situation'," Ms Walder said.
"We feel this is part of a campaign to intimidate students and deny them the right to protest.
"We feel that young people have the right to independently form their ideas about the world and that engaging in peaceful demonstrations against the Iraq war, like the September 5 student walkout, is part of this process."
We need 50 million Aussies, Premier says
from news.com.au
AUSTRALIA should aim for a population of 50 million through ``significant migration'', says Queensland Premier Peter Beattie.
Addressing a business luncheon at the Brisbane Club today, Mr Beattie said the current ageing population of 21 million was too small to meet future needs.
"In terms of the general issue of migration - I know there are pressures on, and all that stuff, in terms of the environment - I think 21 million Australians is not enough,'' he said.
"I am someone who supports significant migration into this country.
"It is a matter for my federal colleagues, not for me, but I am one of those people who believe that inevitably Australia's population long term should be settling in around about 50 million.''
In the meantime, Australia would have to recruit overseas for skilled workers and professionals such as doctors, he said.
"Train Australians first - that is my philosophy,'' he said, "but inevitably there will be some areas where we cannot do that at times, and doctors are one.
"We unashamedly recruit around the world.''
Angry renters 'feeling unloved'
By Mark Schliebs
RENTERS are increasingly becoming angry, scared and feeling unloved by their landlords because of the ‘dire’ rental climate in Australia, a survey has revealed.
Nearly 90 per cent of respondents to a realestate.com.au survey admitted that they were experiencing “negative psychological effects” because of the current state of the rental market.
Just 4 per cent of the 3000 people surveyed believed that they were well cared for by landlords, and 59 per cent were anxious over their own renting situation.
One in five respondents said they had felt “rage and fury” while thinking about their situation, while just 11 per cent said that they were happy with their current accommodation.
According to psychologist Ilan Cohen, even the slightest increase in rent can lead to problems.
“The psychological perception of even a small increase of $10 per week can push some renters to the brink of despair,” Dr Cohen said.
General manager of realestate.com.au Shaun Di Gregorio said that there was a good reason why 34 per cent of respondents felt that they could never afford their own property.
“A significant drop in housing affordability over the last 10 years has forced many people to stay in rental accommodation,” Mr Di Gregorio said.
“And high rental prices are making it impossible for prospective first home buyers to save enough money to think about buying a house.”
Just over 55 per cent of respondents said that they have been deterred for applying for a lease because of the number of people at open inspections.
Cannabis may help anorexia, experts say
By Kate Sikora, Health Reporter
CANNABIS has been used for years to treat some cancers but now experts believe it could help anorexia sufferers.
An international nutrition expert Dr Elliot Berry is presenting research in Sydney today suggesting cannabis could stimulate appetite in anorexia patients.
But his findings, which are not yet published, have been questioned by some eating disorder groups who believe it could cause more harm than good.
Dr Berry, a consultant to the World Health Organisation, has conducted a trial using cannabis in an oil form to treat the eating disorder.
He told the Daily Telegraph early results showed the drug stimulated a chemical in the brain boosting appetite in malnourished people.
"It is given in very low doses, no one is going to get high and no one is going over the top.
"The brain already has receptors which produce some substances like cannabis. We have found that people who are malnourished don't produce these substances."
About one in 100 Australian teenage girls develop anorexia nervosa, the third most common chronic illness in that age group behind obesity and asthma.
Dr Berry, who is based at Israel's Hadassah University Hospital, said he was not purporting to have the "wonder drug" to treat anorexia.
"This could help the treatment and speed up the process while the person still receives psychological help," he said.
15 killed as bombs rip through market, bus
from news.com.au
BOMBS ripped through a bus and a market in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi today, killing at least 15 people including ten government defence workers.
The attacks happened minutes apart in sensitive military areas of the city, which is near the capital Islamabad and also the site of key US ally President Pervez Musharraf's official army residence.
The first explosion hit a bus carrying defence workers to work, police officer Mohammad Hamid said.
"Ten defence employees were killed when a bomb tore through their bus near Qasim market in Rawalpindi," he said.
The second blast happened about 3km away when a suspected motorcycle bomb exploded in the city's RA bazaar, security officials said.
Five people were killed but it was not known if they were civilians or otherwise, they said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either bombing.
But a series of deadly attacks have rocked Pakistan since the military's storming of the hardline Red Mosque in Islamabad in July. More than 100 people were killed in the siege and storming of the pro-Taliban mosque.
Former CIA worker to auction Che Guevara's hair
from news.com.au
A FORMER CIA operative plans to auction a lock of Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara's hair.
Gustavo Villoldo, who helped capture Guevara in Bolivia, plans to auction the hair and items kept in a scrapbook including a map used to track down Guevara and photos of his body since the mission 40 years ago, Associated Press reported.
"It's time for me to put the past behind and pass these on to someone else," Mr Villoldo said.
Dallas heritage auctioneer Tom Slater said it was hard to predict how much the collection would make on the market.
"We cannot recall ever having seen artifacts relating to Che's dramatic career and death appearing on the auction market, and we expect this offering to excite broad bidder interest," Mr Slater said.
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