Polish women served male sushi A restaurant in Poland serves up a treat on Women's Day -- sushi served on a male model. (01:07)

The Federal Labor party is set to vote on whether or not mandatory filter plans become legislation within the next two weeks, according to Government Senator, Kate Lundy.

“What I’m trying to achieve is putting up sensible ideas within my own party to change our policy,” she said. “It will be up to a vote on the floor of Caucus as to what that final policy looks like and I’m anticipating legislation will come forward in this sitting fortnight.”

The move puts Senator Lundy up against Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, both of whom have publicly backed the filter.

This Government is intent on NOT ALLOWING YOUR REPRESENTATIVES to have a 'conscious vote' on subjects like this. They are determined to insist on YOUR REPRESENTATIVE 'toe-ing' a party-line. Find out what YOUR REPRESENTATIVE is going to do and ask them WHY. Ask them to explain it to you. Ask them if they actually understand WHAT IT IS they are voting for!

Senator Conroy is known to be a strong advocate and has rejected public protests as well as political opposition from Independent Senator Nick Xenophon and the Australian Greens.

Prime Minister Rudd has also made public declarations of support for the filter and sees the filter as a method of stopping “awful material” from reaching the public.

I am getting very tired of this "will someone think of the children" attitude! No, I don't have children. Yes, sexual-abuse and paedaphilia is a terrible thing. Internet CENSORSHIP is NOT GOING TO FIX IT! Get real! Seriously! 

You WILL suffer for this. YOU WILL pay the premium as they bump on the cost to ISP's. YOU WILL have NO CHOICE and NO fall-back position. YOU WILL NOT have a say! They will continue to compare it to TV, Videos/Movies, Books, Video Games. Its NOT THE SAME. 

Make them ENFORCE existing laws, not create more government jobs, up taxes and politicise what is essentially a service YOU PAY FOR! Electricity kills children. Pools kill children. Buses and Cars kill children. How do they resolve that? Think about it!

But despite their heavy hitting support, Senator Lundy is leading a move to add an opt-out option for Internet users.

The Federal Opposition says the public has the right to see a study that examines the viability of the Government's $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN).

The Government received the final report from the $25 million implementation study late last week.

It is understood to provide the Government with advice on how to design and fund the network.

The Opposition's communications spokesman, Tony Smith, says Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has an obligation to make the document public in the interests of transparency.

"For him to have that report commissioned, for him to spend $25 million or so of taxpayers' money, for there to be nine months of work go into it - it's not his report, it's the Australian public's report," Mr Smith said.

"He hasn't had a cost benefit analysis of any sort and this will outline how the NBN would actually work, the one thing he and [Prime Minister] Kevin Rudd never thought of when they announced it."

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says the Government has only had the document a short time and its contents have not lessened the Government's enthusiasm for the project.

"We remain committed to our policy and we are going to keep pushing to ensure that Australians can get genuinely super-fast broadband that will revolutionise Australia's productivity and economy in the longer term," Mr Tanner said.

He says the information contained in the study is sensitive.

"There's a number of issues that are dealt with there that are obviously commercially sensitive," Mr Tanner said.

"We are dealing with a government-business enterprise that will be delivering services in a commercial environment and potentially competing with other commercial players.

"So we have got to assess all of those elements before making a decision about what to release publicly."

Tags: government-and-politics, federal-government, information-and-communication, internet, science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, internet, australia

Sensitive huh? Well, lets have it Senator Conroy...or would you rather it was "filtered" first?

Sylvestor

An elephant calf which was believed to have died during its mother's labour at Sydney's Taronga Zoo has been delivered alive.

Mother Asian elephant Porntip gave birth to the male calf this morning, zoo spokesman Mark Williams said.

On Monday, staff at the zoo said ultrasounds showed the calf was in an upside-down position, making it impossible for the mother to give birth.

Zoo staff previously believed the calf had died in the womb on Sunday night, but now admit they were mistaken.

"Remember you are dealing with a three-tonne animal. It's very hard to get absolutes," Mr Williams added.

The male calf was delivered at 3.27am (AEDT) this morning.

Zoo director Cameron Kerr said the baby was in a very delicate situation.

"Her dedicated keepers reported the amazing news early this morning that the calf had been born and was showing signs of life," he said in a statement.

"Taronga's veterinary team immediately rushed to the elephant barn to assist Porntip and the calf."

Mr Kerr says the vet team is working to support both mum and baby.

Previously, after six days of intensive labour by Porntip, keepers and veterinarians had found none of the five vital signs that would have indicated the calf was still alive.

The zoo's senior veterinarian and world-leading expert on elephant births, Dr Thomas Hildebrandt, said on Monday it would be a "miracle" if the calf was born alive.

Today Mr Kerr said the possible effects of the protracted labour on the calf were yet to be determined, and it may not survive.

"While this is incredible news, the young calf still has a long way to go," Mr Kerr said.

"There are no guarantees of its long-term survival at this early stage but we hope that its birth against the odds will stand it in good stead."

-AAP

Tags: human-interest, animals, australia, nsw, sydney-2000

That is good news.

Sylvestor

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says a deal was struck to to force a vote on her same-sex marriage bill, but that it was between Labor and the Coalition and not her party.

The Marriage Equality (Amendment) bill was voted down after only 30 minutes of debate and there was widespread speculation a deal had been done to force the proposal to a vote.

The senator finally agreed to talk after Sydney Star Observer last week published claims substantiated by multiple sources that the party had struck the deal to force the vote.

Hanson-Young said the Greens had only three opportunities a year to have private members bills.

“I pushed in my party room that I was to have the February spot, because we didn’t know if we would be allocated another one before the next election,” Hanson-Young said.

“Private senators time happens on Thursday afternoon and can happen any time before but no later than 4.30 as a general rule.

“Our private members time was to be allocated that afternoon [so] I came out quite strongly in the week leading up to make people know that was what I was intending to use that time for, I could predict both major parties would not want to discuss this issue.

“I was fearful that if I just brought forward the bill … there would be a movement of the agenda, an agreement of the major parties to squash that bill coming forward because it’s controversial and obviously they don’t want to deal with that.”
Hanson-Young said the issue became too publicised for the major parties to simply block discussion.

“What ended up happening on Thursday [was] both major parties realising that I had been so public in saying this bill was going to be discussed that they couldn’t quietly squash it and remove it from the agenda … so they gave us as limited time as possible — it ended up being just over half an hour, and they brought it on straight away once they had come to the agreement,” she said.

“Because neither of the major parties, particularly the Government, were prepared to put forward more than one speaker, it did only happen within that short amount of time and the vote was called before the normal 4.30 cut-off.

“In the lead-up to all of this, I had been saying … that there are members on both sides of the major parties who obviously want to be able to speak out on this issue but don’t feel they have the ability to because they’re told to toe the party line.

Recently there was quite a stir at comments made by Abbott on the 60 Minutes program in relation to equality for same-sex oriented couples enjoying the same rights of heterosexual couples.

The gay and lesbian community - whoever they are?!?! - were quite scathing at the comments by Abbott. Frankly, it is to be expected. He is a conservative and holds true to the conservative line.

It is important to realise that the issue is NOT with our opposition and Abbott; rather, it stands with our current Government. They went to the last Federal election with a platform of 'equality' and removing discrimination on the basis of sexual-orientation. The only moves made have been surface level. When it comes to the crunch, they, shake in their proverbial collective boots and don't want to cause a stir.

Frankly its a bit shameful that in this day and age that these sorts of topics still warrant discussion.

Will Kevin Rudd say "sorry" to us? Unlikely. He has already "come out" and stated that he, personally, does not support true equality across sexual-orientation.

And since Rudd IS the Government (come on, isn't anyone else representing the country and the people???), that will be their party-line until he has gone.

Don't be fooled! Labor. Liberal. It won't make any change to anti-discrimination of same-sex oriented Australians. Don't let them make it a political agenda for the upcoming election. Its a lie and they will not make the change! Guaranteed!

Sylvestor

A street vendor prepares papaya for her daily customers in Yangon

Map

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

MIAMI — Researchers said Tuesday that papaya leaf extract and its tea have dramatic cancer-fighting properties against a broad range of tumors, backing a belief held in a number of folk traditions.

University of Florida researcher Nam Dang and colleagues in Japan, in a report published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, documented papaya's anticancer effect against tumors of the cervix, breast, liver, lung and pancreas.

The researchers used an extract made from dried papaya leaves, and the effects were stronger when cells received larger doses of papaya leaf tea.

Dang and the other scientists showed that papaya leaf extract boosts the production of key signaling molecules called Th1-type cytokines, which help regulate the immune system.

This could lead to therapeutic treatments that use the immune system to fight cancers, they said in the February issue of the journal and released Tuesday by the university.

Papaya has been used as a folk remedy for a variety of ailments in many parts of the world, especially Asia.

Deng said the results are consistent with reports from indigenous populations in Australia and his native Vietnam.

The researchers said papaya extract did not have any toxic effects on normal cells, avoiding a common side effect of many cancer treatments.

Researchers exposed 10 different types of cancer cell cultures to four strengths of papaya leaf extract and measured the effect after 24 hours. Papaya slowed the growth of tumors in all the cultures.

Dang and a colleague have applied to patent the process to distill the papaya extract through the University of Tokyo.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

FOUR in five adults believe access to the internet is a fundamental right and half say it should never be regulated, according to a global survey.

A poll of 27,000 adults in 26 countries for the BBC World Service showed 78 per cent of internet users believed the web gave them greater freedom, while nine in 10 said it was a good place to learn.

Respondents in the US were above the average in believing the internet was a source for greater freedom and they were also more confident than most in expressing their opinions online.

However, others felt concern about spending time online, with 65 per cent of respondents in Japan saying they did not feel they could express their opinions safely online, a sentiment that was also felt in South Korea, France, Germany and China.

The issue of internet freedoms hit the headlines earlier this year after the world's largest search engine Google threatened to quit China, the world's biggest internet market, over strict censorship rules.

Conroy's plan may not be quite as insidious as the censorship that exits in China or Taiwan, but will it threaten companies like Google from continuing to provide services to Australians?

Should companies like Google further pressure our Government over this proposal? I think they should! It may not be a human-right, but internet access and services is not owned by Stephen Conroy (or his Government) either!

Sylvestor

Yes, the death-stare of the Hon. Julie Bishop. She is good at it, isn't she?

Sylvestor

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says there are no secret plans to increase the number of people that can be housed on Christmas Island.

The Australian newspaper is reporting that the Government has begun a secret audit of the island after predicting the detainee population will rise to 5,000 in four years time.

But Mr Rudd says the report is wrong.

"My advice is that the report in The Australian is incorrect. My advice is that around 2,040 people can currently be accommodated on Christmas Island," he said.

"Work is under way as we've already indicated, on a new 400 bed additional facility in the main detention centre which would expand the capacity to about 2,300 people and beyond that, no other plans exist."

Just putting it on the record, again. We know statements like this often end up biting them on the bum eventually!

Sylvestor

Updated Fri Mar 5, 2010 1:16pm AEDT

The Potoroo is being released into an enclosure at the Waychinicup national park, east of Albany. (Department of Environment and Conservation)

A new colony of the world's rarest marsupial, the Gilbert's Potoroo, will be established on WA's South Coast today.

Fewer than 100 of the quokka-like Potoroos are known to exist and are only found at two locations - Bald Island and Two Peoples Bay - on the South Coast.

Today, seven of the animals will be released into a 380-hectare enclosure in the Waychinicup National Park, east of Albany.

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The Environment Minister, Donna Faragher, says it is a big step for the struggling species.

"I certainly have high hopes and the department has high hopes that this will lead for a successful translocation and we'll see an increase in the numbers," she said.

The Government has funded the $120,000 relocation.

I think its a far better investment of tax-payer dollars than liver-transplants (and not the first!!!) for known drug addicts!

Sylvestor