New Pope elected : Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis

AP Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope on Wednesday to lead the Roman Catholic Churcha prelate announced to huge crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square. He took the name Pope Francis, the cardinal said. Cardinals elected Bergoglio on just the second day of a secret conclave to find a successor to Pope Benedict, who abdicated unexpectedly last month. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer)

RIP Hugo Chávez Frías

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez Frías has died aged 58, after 14 years in power. Chavez had been seriously ill with cancer for more than a year, undergoing several operations in Cuba. He will be given a state funeral in the capital Caracas on Friday. Vice-President Nicolas Maduro will assume the presidency until an election is called within 30 days.

Feeding the Black Swans at Albert Park, City of Port Philip, VIC

I took this video when I visited Albert Park.Here my friend and I were feeding the cutie wetland species:) Black Swans and Pacific Black Ducks are feeding and breeding
in the park.
According towww.parkweb.vic.gov.au, it boasts 225-hectares of beautiful parklandincluding a picturesque lake and network of trails. It is very famous place. Internationally it is recognized as a place for F1 events (Australia Gran Prix). I havent watched the Grand Prix because the
ticket is so expensive.Besides I am not a fan of F1 thing.
Visiting the park when it is not used for the Grand Prix, I absolutely free.
The park is very beautiful, a sanctuary for wild fauna and flora. You can feed the swans there. If you are hungry there are some nice eateries with good food. The park is located in the City of Port Phillip, just three kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. You can take bus or tram.

Want to know more abour Albert Park, here I copy some info from its official website (www.parkweb.vic.gov.au).
Albert Park is a Heritage. Evidence indicates that Aborigines inhabited Albert Park and the surrounds some 40,000 years ago. Albert Park was a series of swamps and lagoons that provided edible vegetation. In 1864 the Park was proclaimed a public park and named Albert Park in honour of Queen Victoria's devoted consort, Prince
Albert. Over the ensuing years Albert Park was used as a tip, as a camp for the armed services, for scenic drives and for many forms of recreation.

Today the magnificent Albert Park is enjoyed by approximately five
million visitors annually. Vestiges of Albert Park's Aboriginal
history still remain, the most noticeable being the large ancient
River Red Gum Tree, reputed to be the site of many corroborees. It is
thought to be over 300 years old, the oldest remnant tree in the Port
Phillip area, located next to Junction Oval on the corner of Fitzroy
Street and Queens Road, St Kilda.

The Clarendon Street gates are the best manifestations of European
history. Originally built of wooden pickets in 1910, they were cast in
wrought iron in 1939 and can still be seen today.

Aboriginal Traditional Owners

Parks Victoria acknowledges the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of
Victoria - including its parks and reserves. Through their cultural
traditions, Aboriginal people maintain their connection to their
ancestral lands and waters.
Further information is available from Aboriginal Affairs Victoria AAV
and Native Title Services Victoria

Fauna

Over 100 bird species have been recorded in the park including wetland
species such as the Cattle Egret, Common Tern, Eastern Curlew, Great
Egret, Pomarine Jaeger, Pelicans and White-throated Needletail. Black
Swans, and Pacific Black Ducks are common, both feeding and breeding
in the park.

Native mammals, reptiles and amphibians in the park include Common
Bent-wing Bats. Common Brushtail Possums, Glossy Grass Skinks and
Common Froglets.

Congratulations for Roger Federer

News.com.au | News from Australia and around the world online | NewsComAu

Roger Federer defeats a brave Andy Murray, taking his Gran Slam total to an astonishing 16 titles.

tips to find your stolen camera :)

His idea is interesting and I might follow his tips. I lost my camera when I was at David Jones shopping center, Melbourne. There were so many pictures that I had not  moved it to my pc. I was hoping someone would return it. Until I returned here, no whereabouts of my camera and the pics.

I love Melbourne

Melbourne tells itself: 'We're the best' | Travel News | News.com.au

* Melbourne voted most liveable city - poll
* Victorians 'envy of the rest of Australia'
* 'Sydney used to be ahead, but not anymore'

VICTORIANS were the "envy" of other Australians and Melbourne was the most liveable capital city in Australia by a "long, long way", Premier John Brumby said.

The Herald Sun reports a new Roy Morgan poll of 1200 Australians showed Melbourne was more liveable than Sydney and other Australian capital cities.

Mr Brumby trumpeted the results at a major economics conference at the University of Melbourne today.

He said the survey, which was commissioned by the Victorian Government and carried out in June, showed every Victorian should get credit for their willingness to get involved in large-scale events.

“This research shows we are the envy of the rest of Australia,” Mr Brumby said.

"What it shows is that we have got the liveability edge, whether you are talking about arts, whether you are talking about sport, whether you are talking about... romance.
Related Coverage

* Reader's Comments: Melbourne tells itself: 'We're the best'NEWS.com.au,
* Melbourne the best city in AustraliaHerald Sun, 5 Nov 2009
* Funding boost for regional healthHerald Sun, 16 Sep 2009
* A Venice of the southHerald Sun, 12 Sep 2009
* Our best of the bestAdelaide Now, 21 Jun 2009


“If you go back to the 1990s that was very different, where Sydney was miles ahead in all of these areas.''

He resisted the temptation to take a swipe at the other states, however, saying they still had “great cities”.

“I think we are lucky in Australia, we have got great cities," he said.

"What this story says is that all of the work that has gone on (in Victoria) building events, building the arts, building sport... the vibrancy of our nightlife, cafes and streetwalks and so on, all of these things come together and just give us an edge in Melbourne."

Read more about Australia's Most Liveable City at the Herald Sun

THE Twelve Apostles are now the Seven Apostles.

Another of the Twelve Apostles collapses; seven left | Travel News | News.com.au

THE Twelve Apostles are now the Seven Apostles. Neil Sander, a tour operator noticed that one of the remaining Apostle's had fallen at just after 5pm yesterday.

And with the Grand Final today Mr Sander believes it could be an omen.

"The Geelong surf coast beats a Saint again," he said.

"I went 'oh my god'," he said.

He arrived on the scene with a tour group of nine people and instantly noticed the missing apostle.

But by the time the group had arrived there wasn't much to see, according to Mr Sander.

"Just a little bit of rock sticking out. The water was murky too, almost an army green mixed with a creamy colour."

The apostle was one of those nearest the Loch Ard Gorge and Port Campbell and just before the remains of the Island Arch formation.

Mr Sander has operated his Young Travellers Tours company for a year, and provided tours of the area for four years.

And he said the apostle would soon be missed.

"All the tour company's go there, so hundreds a day go to see that bit. It's a magnificent photo."

Others contacted by the Herald Sun had heard rumours but couldn't confirm.

Australia

Last night my friend and I went to cinema. We watched Australia in Australia (http://www.villagecinemas.com.au/Cinemas/Gold-Class.htm). Interesting and I will never forget it..........I will be leaving this beautiful country soon....

it's not easy (or practical) being green

Rudd finds it's not easy (or practical) being green | theage.com.au

* Paul Daley
* December 21, 2008

AT THE last election, Kevin Rudd declared climate change to be "the great moral challenge of our generation".

He did so as a man who was somehow above the cut and grubby thrust of realpolitik. But perhaps that's always been Rudd's great natural gift: to appear utterly uncynical when he is acutely political. He vowed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol where Jurassic John Howard — stuck in a bubble of climate change denial — would not. Perhaps the biggest part of the great moral challenge, he led us to believe, was to lead the world through example by imposing meaningful emissions targets on Australia's big carbon producers.

Climate change mitigation has turned out to be less of a moral challenge for Rudd than a great political obstacle. As a senior Government figure said on the eve of the release of the emissions targets: "If we bugger this up, then we lose government at the next election."

Rudd has been condemned for setting a low carbon-reduction target of just 5 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020, and up to 15 per cent in the improbable event that developing nations agree to bigger reductions. Environmentalists have condemned him as betraying ordinary voters, who were captivated by his green hue at the last election. They are also appalled that big trade-exposed industries will win hefty concessions when permits to pollute are sold and traded.

The heaviest polluters are, however, still displeased, despite the massive subsidies promised to them. Some are still threatening to move their operations — and jobs — to places with no fixed targets. Therein, of course, lies the real moral quandary for Rudd: getting the biggest carbon producers to take responsibility for changing the nature of their businesses, rather than just transporting their problems to parts of the planet with Third World regulation and endless cheap labour.

But on this, political necessity dictated he effectively raise the white flag — for now at least.

Of the $11.5 billion raised through the sale of permits for carbon production, $2.9 billion will be returned to heavy polluters in the form of free permits, while the coal-fired-power industry will receive almost $4 billion over five years to offset rising prices. Another $4 billion will be carefully targeted at politically volatile low and middle-income earners to offset rising prices.

Herein, perhaps, lies the real reason why Rudd settled on 5 rather than 10 or 15 per cent minimums by 2020. For every percentage point of targeted reduction, the Government would find itself under even greater pressure for more compensation from the heaviest polluters.

It sounds as if Rudd is in an invidious position, right? Well, no.

Days before he released his 5 per cent target, some of his more trusted senior colleagues were expressing utter confidence that, in such a foreboding economic environment, he had the politics — if not the short-term policy — absolutely right.

He had effectively orchestrated a charade whereby what amounts to little more than a wait-and-see policy would be attacked from all sides. He could be Mr Middle Ground in the face of industry and green hardliners.

There was, it is said, deep concern among some in cabinet (including, perhaps, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong and Environment Minister Peter Garrett) that Rudd's 5 per cent did not go nearly far enough.

But Rudd prevailed, as he invariably does. It is why he is a much better politician than Wong or Garrett can ever hope to be.

Once Australia was faced with a recession, Rudd's political pragmatism was always going to triumph. And so, his 5 per cent target should not be seen as a policy about climate change at all. It is foremost a policy for winning a second term.

Rudd's target was roundly dismissed as both "conservative" and "moderate". But it's also, I believe, a radical personal capitulation to a base instinct for electoral survival. As such, Rudd runs the risk of looking to the electorate as if he's not such a different hue from the bloke he knocked off a year ago.

Then there's Malcolm Turnbull — a comparative progressive on climate change mitigation. But his Coalition is divided on whether to oppose the 5 per cent target when the legislation reaches the Senate.

Turnbull's preference is to support the legislation, it is said, because to oppose such a moderate cut would make him captive to Howard's legacy of climate change intransigence.

Rudd's pragmatism on climate change should not, meanwhile, be seen in isolation. It is a talisman for the political problems he is beginning to face as long-awaited policy reviews are finally delivered. All will demand big-spending responses to meet recommended reforms.

Paul Daley is The Sunday Age's national political columnist.

ethics have "no necessary connection with religion".

Students to be taught there's no God | National News | News.com.au

VICTORIAN state primary school students will soon be able to take religious education classes which teach there is no evidence God exists.
The Humanist Society of Victoria has developed a curriculum for primary pupils that the state government accreditation body says it intends to approve, The Sunday Age newspaper reported.

Accredited volunteers will be able to teach their philosophy in the class time allotted for religious instruction, the newspaper said.

As with lessons delivered by faith groups, parents will be able to request that their children do not participate.

"Atheistical parents will be pleased to hear that humanistic courses of ethics will soon be available in some state schools," Victorian Humanist Society president Stephen Stuart said.

The society does not consider itself to be a religious organisation and believes ethics have "no necessary connection with religion".

Humanists believe people are responsible for their own destiny and reject the notion of a supernatural force or God.

god, ethics, religion, atheism

Melbourne is Australia's most "happening" city

Melbourne needs to be run like a year-long event | theage.com.au

Melbourne needs to be run like a year-long event

* Wayne Kayler-Thomson
* December 8, 2008

ONCE, Melbourne was seen as staid and bleak. Now it is Australia's most "happening" city, transformed over several decades by major events that draw tourists from overseas and interstate, and visitors from across Victoria.

Tourists need hospitality and entertainment, and the supply has grown to meet the demand — to the benefit of all.

At least, that's the theory. In practice, of course, the tourist boom and burgeoning hospitality industry have come with some strings attached.

As happens with tourist drawcards the world over, too many visitors can blight what attracts them in the first place.

The dazzling growth of 24-hour entertainment options in the city has attracted more people, week in and week out, which has, in turn, made the city less attractive — especially at weekends — because of street violence.

To avoid being victims of our own success — easier said than done — we should take our cue from the success of the same major events that helped start the whole cycle.

The management of major events in Melbourne has reached such a pitch that we are often referred to as the world's events capital. Crowd control, security and hospitality standards are among the best anywhere.

The fact is that when events such as the Australian Open or the grand prix are running, the streets are generally safer because of the large numbers of people, and the fact that there is a planned and co-ordinated effort by police, private security firms, taxi groups and public transport operators.

The point is this: if it can be done for the grand prix or the grand final, then it should be done at weekends for the rest of the year, especially in the busy summer period.

While industry standards have improved enormously in recent years, there is an opportunity to create new standards of excellence in the hospitality sector — especially pubs and nightclubs — in crowd control, security, customer relations and responsible service of alcohol. For example, more distinctive uniforms for front-line security staff and visible photo identification will add to their authority and credibility.

Drinking on the street, partly due to smokers going outside, needs to be curbed and managed properly by venue security staff.

Lack of timely and safe private and public transport aggravates the violence problem, and private industry can assist here. A better co-ordinated taxi service with security marshals outside key venues would help prevent fights over taxis and clear crowds in a more efficient way.

Training and accreditation are crucial to this. While the quality and range of courses have improved dramatically over the past decade, they should be taken to new levels. In light of the new demand-driven training reforms, our key industry associations and training providers have a key leadership role to play.

Overall, better relationships between licensed premises, security firms, transport operators and police are essential to eliminate grey areas of responsibility and stop buck-passing. This can be assisted by better resourcing and more co-ordination among these groups in relation to weekends.

If the industry does not take steps to elevate itself, the Government will respond to media and electoral pressure and impose solutions such as the recent "near-death" experience for the industry of the 2am lockouts.

There is no quick fix for the problem of street violence, but striving for the highest world standards in crowd control, security, hospitality and responsible service of alcohol will ensure we keep our reputation as a safe, attractive location not only for major events but for everyone, all year round.

Wayne Kayler-Thomson is chief executive officer of the Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

melborne airport (tallamarin )

4TH OF JANUARY 2007.....ARRIVING IN MELBOURNE

melbourne's corner