Twins Separated from Bangladesh Intensive Care: Hospital

SYDNEY news update: Bangladeshi twins Trishna and Krishna have left intensive care as they continue their remarkable recovery from surgery to separate their conjoined heads, the hospital said.
The two-year-old girls, rescued from a Dhaka orphanage, moved to a shared room on the normal ward on Monday, just a week after the 32-hour operation to disconnect their fused skulls, brains and blood vessels.

“They are sharing a room together and settling into their new environment,” Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital said in a statement.

“The girls are getting to know the new staff who will be caring for them now that they have left intensive care.”

The twins’ heads remain heavily bandaged but they have appeared otherwise well, with Trishna awake and talking two days after surgery and Krishna blowing a signature raspberry when she was woken from a medical coma on Saturday.

Their condition has amazed medical staff who nursed them back to fitness after they arrived in fading health from Bangladesh two years ago, and gave them just a 25 percent chance of both recovering completely from the separation.

“We’re all so proud of our children’s hospital and we’re so proud of the quality of the nurses and the staff and the doctors that we’ve got there,” Victoria state Premier John Brumby told Fairfax radio.

“This was just another great example where these two children, who I think, to be honest, many of us thought were not going to get through, have come through, fingers crossed at this stage, with flying colours.”

The girls’ 22-year-old mother, who was unable to care for the sickly babies and handed them to an orphanage soon after their birth, has said she hopes to travel to Australia to see them.

Britain’s Prince William to visit Australia, New Zealand

SYDNEY : Britain’s Prince William will embark on his first official tour of the Commonwealth in January, visiting Australia and New Zealand to ‘get to know’ the people, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Monday.

Prince William, second in line to the British throne, will travel to Sydney and Melbourne from January 19-21 after opening New Zealand’s new Supreme Court in Wellington.

“The visit originated from a request to the government of Australia by Prince William to visit the country so as to begin to get to know Australia and its people,” Rudd said in a statement.

The visit, Prince William’s first since he travelled here as an infant in 1983 with the Prince and Princess of Wales, is likely to renew debate about Australia’s status as a constitutional monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth II, New Zealand and Australia’s head of state, is regarded with much affection here and Rudd, although an avowed republican, has said that cutting Australia’s ties with the British monarchy is not a priority.

Prince William will meet a broad range of Australians as he focuses on his “core interests” of supporting defence personnel, helping young people fulfil their potential, and sustainable development, Rudd said.

“The Prince will also use the visit to learn more about local indigenous issues and visit the bushfire-ravaged countryside in Victoria,” he added.

British media have reported that the 27-year-old prince has arranged the visit during a break in his training to become a helicopter pilot with the Royal Air Force.

Shahid Afridi, To Join South Australia For Twenty20

KARACHI: South Australia have signed Shahid Afridi for the Twenty20 Big Bash this summer as a replacement for the spinner Ajantha Mendis.

The Redbacks had announced the recruitment of Mendis in July but he is now unavailable due to Sri Lanka’s planned tri-series with India and Bangladesh in January.

South Australia’s Big Bash campaign begins on December 29, when Pakistan will be involved in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

However, Afridi has not played Test cricket since 2006 and is not expected to feature in their Test squad, which would leave him free to take part in the full Twenty20 competition.

“We narrowly missed out on finals last season and these signings are definitely a boost to our quest to qualify for the Champions League this year,” South Australia’s high performance manager Jamie Cox said.

“I have made no secret of the fact that I view the Big Bash competition as the most commercial on the domestic calendar and the inaugural Champions’ League also provides fantastic opportunities for young players to showcase their skills on the world stage.”

Afridi should be a valuable Twenty20 asset for South Australia; he was the player of the tournament at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and averages 21.05 with the bat and 15.73 with the ball from his 24 Twenty20 internationals. Other international signings for the Big Bash include Chris Gayle (Western Australia) and Dwayne Bravo (Victoria).

Lasith Malinga was to join Tasmania and Victoria had attracted Muttiah Muralitharan but both men are likely to be unavailable for the same reason as Mendis. The West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard is on New South Wales’ radar and the states have until Christmas Eve to confirm up to two international recruits.

Oil Eases in Asian Trade As Dollar Recovers

SINGAPORE: Oil prices eased in Asian trade today as the US dollar recovered against the major currencies, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, fell 12 cents to USD 78.41 a barrel after closing at USD 78.53 Friday, the highest level since October 2008.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery shed 14 cents to USD 76.85.

The US dollar’s rebound against the euro and other major units was the main factor behind the fall in crude prices, analysts said.

Oil markets were “pretty much impacted by the currency,” said Mark Pervan, a senior commodities strategist for ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia.

A stronger dollar tends to discourage investors holding weaker foreign currencies from buying crude that is priced in the greenback.

Oil Rises to Near $ 67 in Asia, Stocks Recover

SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose to near $67 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as regional stock markets rebounded and investors awaited a slew of data on the U.S. economy.
Benchmark crude for November deliver was up 2 cents at $66.86 by late morning Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 82 cents Monday to settle at $66.84.

Regional stock markets, often a barometer of optimism about economic prospects, rebounded from a sharp fall Monday after corporate takeovers boosted Wall Street to a higher close.

Also pushing up oil prices was the West’s recent stern warning to Iran over a previously unknown nuclear facility. About 20 percent of the world’s crude moves through the Straits of Hormuz on Iran’s southern coast and any showdown between the West and Iran could threaten that route.

“Investors are still buying on dips around the mid-$60s level. Most people are reasonably confident that over the next 12 months oil is going to move higher,” said Ben Westmore, energy analyst with National Australia Bank in Melbourne. “The gains in the U.S. equity markets also helped.”

Westmore expects oil will average $80 a barrel in the third quarter of 2010.

“We’re expecting a long recovering period, not a V-shaped recovery, but over 2010 we expect positive outcomes in the big developed economies, and oil demand will pick up,” he said.

In the U.S., the most closely watched indicator this week will be the Labour Department’s monthly jobs report on Friday. Reports also are due out on home prices, manufacturing, consumer confidence, construction spending and factory orders.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil was little changed at $1.6913 a gallon. Gasoline for October delivery fell slightly to $1.6377 a gallon.

In London, Brent crude rose 1 cent to $65.55 the ICE Futures exchange.

Oil Dips in Asian Trade

SINGAPORE : Oil prices eased in Asian trade on Friday, hit by profit-taking and weaker stockmarkets, dealers said, although the losses were limited on upbeat data from the US, the world’s biggest energy user.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, fell 40 cents to 72.07 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for November delivery dropped 36 cents to 71.19.

“We had three solid days of gains on equities and commodities markets so there’s a little bit of profit-taking,” said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist with the National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

Sentiment in the oil market was also weighed by a fall in global stocks after a rally on Wall Street ran out of steam on Thursday.

Shares in Asia followed the New York lead on Friday after three days of gains.

Westmore said however that better-than-expected economic data from the United States limited the fall in oil prices on hopes that energy demand will soon pick up in the world’s largest economy.

The Labor Department reported on Thursday that new jobless claims fell 12,000 to 545,000 in the week ending September 12 from the previous week’s revised figure of 557,000. The figure was better than analyst expectations of 557,000.

Adding to the recovery hopes was the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank which said its business activity index for September hit a two-year high, which was better than expected.

Other figures showed home construction and building permits rose in August.

The news followed a surprise drop in crude inventories in the United States, supporting the growing perception that recovery was under way.

Some analysts however cautioned that stockpiles remained huge.

“Regardless of whether or not we increased or decreased, the bottom line is we have plenty of crude,” said analyst Phil Flynn of PFG Best Research.

“Despite these weekly massive drops, crude supplies are still 9.8 percent above year ago levels,” he pointed out.

The global economic downturn had sapped demand for energy, dragging crude prices from record highs of above 147 dollars in July 2008 to 32.40 dollars in December. They have since recovered to hover around 70 dollars.

Oz PM Indian Students Warned to Contradict Activities

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday warned students from India not to take the law into their own hands after writer and activist
Farrukh Dhondy reportedly urged Indians in the country for “some form of retaliation” following the brutal assault on four Indians in Melbourne.

Dhondy has urged Indians in Australia to take matters into their own hands, The Age reported on Thursday.

“There really has to be some form of retaliation from the Indian community as a whole. India has to stand up,” he told ABC Radio.

Rudd said Australia was a law-abiding nation.

“The laws are there for a purpose and that is for all citizens to adhere to them,” he was quoted as saying by The Age.

When asked what message he had for anyone who took the law into their own hands, Rudd said: “People should not”.

The four Indians were attacked by a group outside a bar in Epping on Saturday and the attackers told the victims “You Indians, just go back to your country”.

The attack comes as Victoria’s Premier John Brumby prepares to go on a mission to India to help repair Australia’s reputation.

The victims say they were bashed by up to 70 people in a car park in High Street at Epping on Saturday night.

But the police say there were only four or five offenders, although there were another 15 people making racist comments.

There have been a string of attacks on Indian students since May this year. The attacks have caused an uproar in India.

India’s external affairs minister SM Krishna was assured by Canberra that students from India would be taken care of.

The latest attack takes place after a brief lull in such incidents in which the victims maintain that the assaults were racially motivated.

The brother-in-law of two of the victims, Onkar Singh, had told ABC’s AM programme that his relatives have suffered serious injuries.

“Sukhdip got very badly injured in that, and Gurdeep has his jaw broken, and Mukhtair’s (the uncle) shoulder is broken,” he was quoted as saying.

“When the attack happened there was a lot of people, about 70 and they might have run away or something because they can all see the whole car park was full with them.”

Kissing Leads To Sex before Marriage, Warns Former Prostitute-Turned-Preacher!

Melbourne: A former prostitute-turned-preacher has warned young Christians against kissing or cuddling before marriage, saying that it may lead to premarital sex.Kissing leads to sex before marriage, warns former prostitute-turned-preacher!
Evangelist Sy Rogers, who confessed being a transsexual and gay before, says that “kisses and cuddles” and the “good old pash” are foreplay people should abstain from if they are not married.

According to The Adelaide Advertiser, Rogers, who believes homosexuality can be “cured” with prayer, is due to give a talk at a conference at Enfield Baptist Church in Adelaide next month, reports the Herald Sun.
In a preview released recently, he asked: “So when is it time to stir up sexual desire? When you can afford to: in marriage. Control sexual desire; don”t let it control you.”
However, sexual health experts warned against such extreme form of chastity, saying that it may leave young people “more vulnerable to sexual exploitation.”

SHine SA (Sexual Health information networking & education) teacher education co-ordinator Jane Flentje said: “(Abstinence) may mean kids delay having sex a bit longer, but on the whole they don”t wait until they”re married,” she said. “When they do start having sex they”re not using contraceptives and condoms as often, and they”re not as comfortable talking to people about it.

“If kids don”t get any opportunity to learn about this stuff and explore relationships, they”re much more vulnerable to sexual exploitation.