Headlines Wednesday 7th January 2009

Happy birthday Dad.
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FROM HAMAS WITH LOVE
Tim Blair
Exiled Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal rejects impersonal, mass-produced armaments:
The logic of those who demand that we stop our resistance is absurd. They absolve the aggressor and occupier, armed with the deadliest weapons of death and destruction, of responsibility, while blaming the victim, prisoner and occupied. Our modest, home-made rockets are our cry of protest to the world.
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NEXT: THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Tim Blair
Attention, puny Earthlings! We in Australia will destroy your world:
Australia’s use of coal and carbon emissions policies are guaranteeing the “destruction of much of the life on the planet”, a leading NASA scientist has written in a letter to Barack Obama.

The head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Professor James Hansen, has written an open letter to Barack Obama calling for a moratorium on coal-fired power stations and the use of next-generation nuclear power.

In the letter he says: “Australia exports coal and sets atmospheric carbon dioxide goals so large as to guarantee destruction of much of the life on the planet.”
We do this deliberately. These are our goals. Or, at least, our preliminary goals. - any Blair article is worth clicking on to see the full thing .. I leave a lot out too. - ed.
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Police officer fronts court on child sex charge
A Victorian policeman is facing court today charged with child sex offences.
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Man hurls petrol on girlfriend, tries to set her alight
A man has been charged with attempted murder after he threw petrol over his girlfriend and tried to set her on fire with a lighter.
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Alleged Rosemeadow brawler walks free from court
A teenager allegedly involved in this week's violence at Rosemeadow will be allowed to walk from court. Emily Smith is at Campbelltown Local Court.
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Islamic rally causes traffic dramas in Sydney's CBD
There have been traffic problems in the northern part of Sydney's CBD with hundreds of Islamic faithful marching down Macquarie Street. Heidi Tiltins is there.
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Three-year-old mauled to death - toddler, adult hospitalised
In a horrifying dog attack a three-year-old girl has been killed and a toddler has serious injuries to her face and body.
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Israeli strike kills 40 in UN school
An Israeli strike has killed at least 40 people who had taken refuge inside a UN school in the Gaza Strip, the third such attack in a day, medics say....
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'Stabbed 15 times over sugar in coffee'
A man facing an attempted murder charge allegedly stabbed his housemate 15 times after a fight starting because there was no sugar in a cup of coffee, an Adelaide court has heard....
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Six-year-old takes family car after missing bus
Having missed his bus, a six-year-old American boy tried to drive to school in his family's sedan - and crashed....