Pak Punjab IG orders more security for Chinese after al Qaeda threat

May 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Lahore, May 3 (ANI): The Punjab Inspector General of Police of Pakistan’s Punjab province has asked all police officers to submit reports on Chinese citizens staying and working in the province and the level of security being provided to them.

All provincial police officials have been directed through a circular to submit reports about Chinese citizens residing in Punjab at the earliest.

The IGP also directed police officers to beef up security of the Chinese, the Daily Times reports.

It quoted sources as saying that the decision was taken after an intelligence agency reported on April 20 that Chinese people in Punjab were under serious threat.

The intelligence report warned that six to seven al Qaeda-linked terrorists had entered Gujranwala and were likely to target foreigners, especially Chinese nationals.

The report said the terrorists had entered Gujranwala a week ago and were being provided accommodation and logistics by a local resident, identified as Tariq. (ANI)

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Brits too terrified to fly!

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, April 29 (ANI): It has emerged that the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland, which caused an ash cloud crisis, has left many Britons fearful of flying.

Tour operators revealed that most Britons have abandoned plans for foreign holidays, and millions have opted for a break in their own country instead.

A boss at Cottages 4You, one of Britain’s biggest holiday letting agencies, has revealed that cottage breaks have rocketed by a quarter ever since the eruption.

“The ash is just the latest event to show how easily overseas travel plans can be disrupted. Since the flight ban, we’ve seen a 25 percent rise in bookings,” the Daily Star quoted the firm’s boss as saying.

“People are understandably nervous. They don’t want to splash out money on overseas accommodation they may not be able to get to,” the person stated.

It comes as budget airline Flybe decided to cash in on people’s nerves by launching separate insurance against volcanic eruptions.

The 6.99 pounds policy will pay for “unplanned costs” if passengers are stranded abroad. (ANI)

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7 extremists sneak into Gujranwala, may target Chinese nationals

April 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Lahore, Apr.21 (ANI): Pakistan intelligence agencies have warned concerned departments that about six to seven militants having links with the Al-Qaeda have sneaked into Gujranwala to target foreign nationals, especially Chinese citizens present in the region.

According to intelligence inputs, the militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, have entered into Gujranwala a week ago and are just waiting to strike at the right moment.

The report also said that some of the extremists also have gas masks, which they can use during the attack.

According to reports, these terrorists are being provided accommodation and other logistic support by a man named Tariq. Agencies have no other information regarding Tariq.

Chinese nationals who are working on different projects in various areas of the city are likely to be targeted by these extremists, The Daily Times reports. (ANI)

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Singapore transit passengers urged not to go

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Flights departing from Perth Airport are leaving as normal although airlines are urging passengers who are flying to Europe via Singapore to stay put.

Airlines have been forced to ground flights after a volcanic explosion in Iceland sent ash into the atmosphere over Europe and the United Kingdom.

Singapore Airlines’ Susan Bedrow says Singapore airport is overflowing with passengers and accommodation is fully booked.

Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Emirates say they will re-schedule flights for those who have been affected.

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FMG denies responsibility for cyclone deaths

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Fortescue Metals Group has told a Perth court it should not be held responsible for the deaths of two workers at a rail camp in 2007.

Deborah Till and Craig Raab were killed and several others injured when Cyclone George tore through the Pilbara and flattened their camp.

Worksafe has charged eight companies over the incident, and today FMG went on trial accused of failing to provide a safe workplace.

Lawyers for FMG want the charges dropped, arguing the company was not responsible for the camp.

The court was told FMG signed a binding agreement with another company, Spotless, to design, build and manage the accommodation village.

Spotless then contracted the project to NT Link, which built the camp with approval from the Shire of East Pilbara.

The court was told FMG was four companies removed from the work camp and therefore cannot be held accountable.

The hearing is set down for five days.

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Displaced tenants will be looked after: Burch

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Public housing in Canberra’s city centre is being redeveloped to accommodate an extra 1,500 people.

The Allawah, Bega and Currong complexes in civic will be replaced with apartments and townhouses over the next five years.

Ten per cent of the new accommodation is earmarked for public housing.

Current tenants will be offered alternative government housing and Shelter ACT wants assurances their concerns will be addressed.

ACT Housing Minister Joy Burch says there has been a positive reaction to the plan and tenants will be taken care of.

“The initial reaction is around making sure we accommodate public housing tenants – those that want to stay and those who have an interest in moving elsewhere and we’ll certainly do that and work with our tenants,” she said.

“Certainly there’s strong support for having a mix of public and private tenancies and that’s been a positive reaction.”

Ms Burch says disruption to tenants will pay dividends in the future by providing more accommodation.

“Public Housing waiting lists continue to grow for a whole range of reasons and we have public housing residents across the whole of the ACT,” she said.

“We would be the largest landlord here in Canberra with over 11,500 properties online.”

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Car rally fundraiser hits Broken Hill

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Around 30 cars rolled into Broken Hill yesterday, as part of the 2010 Crusin’ Along Car Rally.

The Rally is a fundraising drive for Cancer Care Western New South Wales – who are building a Lodge in Orange, for regional cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment.

Fundraising Chairwoman, Jan Savage says while Broken Hill residents often seek treatment in Adelaide, there will soon be another option available to them.

“There was no accommodation and actually no radiotherapy facility available for a lot of the western area people,” she said.

“The accommodation and the cancer treatment centre, the bunkers, will be open in about 12 months time at the end of April, beginning of May 2011.”

The Rally will travel to White Cliffs tonight.

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Mt Isa homeless need to make ‘long-term’ steps

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A Mount Isa priest in north-west Queensland says he is trying to find accommodation for a large group of homeless Indigenous people who are living on land near his church.

Father Michael Lowcock says around 30 people have been living near the church for the last few months and he has been offering them meals and showers.

He says while homeless people can access assistance – some are choosing not to.

I think part of the issue is whether they want to find a place to live, because I’ve been talking to them about to trying to go and register with the Department of Housing, they need to make those steps, a lot of it is getting them to make those steps themselves rather than doing it for them,” he said.

“In the end when you do it for them and they’re probably not going to care for the place, a lot of it is trying to get the long-term view of make those steps themselves.”

Father Lowcock says homelessness in the city is a complex issue and with the end of the wet season homeless people will move on from the church.

“From now on I presume that most of the rain is gone and that people will probably spread out more to outer areas, from outside of town,” he said.

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Intervention homes still contamainted

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One in 10 demountable homes installed for Northern Territory Intervention workers remain un-usable because of contamination that was first detected two years ago.

In 2008, some workers with the Northern Territory Emergency Response were moved out of the demountables and converted shipping containers they were living in, after tests showed almost 90 per cent had air quality problems.

There was a second formaldehyde scare in 2009 involving the replacement accommodation in a number of remote communities.

The office of the Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has confirmed that air quality in 40 buildings is still a concern.

The government has been working with experts to ensure the accommodation meets World Health organisation chemical exposure standards.

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Roxon defends no cancer centre funding

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has defended the Government’s decision not to fund a cancer centre in Albury-Wodonga.

The Government instead announced $6.5 million for an accommodation facility and a diagnostic scanner.

But the Border Cancer Network wanted money to build a cancer centre that would give country people better access to treatment.

Ms Roxon says there could be funding opportunities under other health programs.

“Well certainly if they talk to communities in Ballarat or Gippsland or elsewhere, often work is done over many, many years to be able to put forward applications that might comply with future programs,” she said.

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Bendigo Health unsure of cancer funding amount

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Bendigo Health has confirmed it has been granted Federal Government funding for cancer services in central Victoria, but says it is not sure how much money it will get.

In a statement, the health provider says it believes it will get $1 million for patient and carer accommodation.

Bendigo Health says it is hoping to meet the Government to discuss the funding.

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Cancer funding to provide new treatment centre

April 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Rural doctors are welcoming funding for a chemotherapy building in Queensland’s north-west, but say travel costs for patients also need to be considered.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday announced $2.6 million funding for the Mount Isa Hospital.

It will provide a new building to house enhanced tele-oncology and chemotherapy treatment services and provide space for three new chemotherapy treatment chairs.

The president of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland, Dr Sheilagh Cronin, says Mount Isa Hospital needs extra funding, as it is under-resourced.

She says the patient transfer scheme also needs to be looked at.

“For patients from somewhere like Cloncurry, going up to Mount Isa for treatment – although they get some subsidies for accommodation … in the region of about $40, we all know that you just can’t find accommodation for less than $100 in Mount Isa,” Dr Cronin said.

Meanwhile, the Mount Isa Health Service’s executive director, Greg Coffey, says discussions for the best building location will follow.

“We’re going to have to discuss that with builders who are currently organising the new development of the hospital,” he said.

“The money has come from state funds, [so] it might be possible to integrate with the new development or we might have a separate stand-alone facility … but we are certainly going to try as hard as we can to make sure we can use the facility to the best of our ability.”

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Funding pledge omits cancer centre

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Border Cancer Network is criticising the Federal Government for failing to fund a new cancer centre in Albury-Wodonga.

The Network made a submission for the new cancer centre under the Government’s $560 million program to improve cancer treatment in rural areas.

The Government yesterday announced it would fund a $1.5 million accommodation facility and a new positron emission tomography (PET) scanner.

The network’s Marianne Warren says the funding will improve diagnostic services in the region, but she says it will do little to improve access to cancer treatment.

“I can’t understand what the Federal Government’s been thinking in making this type of announcement without providing infrastructure to support care,” she said.

“Where do people go? Once you’ve had a PET scan and you’ve been diagnosed with a cancer you’re still back in the system that we’ve got.”

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Council considers hotel residential plans

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A Ballina Shire councillor says the possible decision to convert Ramada hotel rooms to private residences will impact on luxury tourism on the New South Wales north coast.

Local community groups have voiced opposition to the move which would see 94 of the 115 rooms converted to homes.

The regulatory services manager at Ballina council, Rod Willis, says the council has not made its decision yet but hopes to in the next few weeks.

“If the hotel was primarily residential it would mean there wouldn’t be a Ramada hotel or a hotel with that level of accommodation within the shire,” he said.

But he says the council still needs to weigh up the arguments.

“It’s a fairly complex matter and obviously a lot of people have an interest in it from both sides of the fence,” he said.

“The applicants and other businesses are reliant on the hotel and as a consequence it’s going to be a difficult decision.”

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Homeless funding boost

March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Federal Government is to spend almost $800,000 on improving accommodation for the homeless at East Perth.

The money will come from the Federal Government’s Jobs Fund.

The Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek says the money will be used to improve energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in Saint Bartholomew’s House Lime Street Project.

She says she expects the project to create jobs.

“The employment outcomes of this project are very important,” she said.

“We expect that the Lime Street Project will create or retain 73 jobs, 12 work experience positions and eight traineeships or apprenticeships.”

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Remote medical trainees get housing boost

March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Federal Government is allocating more than $2 million to student accommodation on Thursday Island, off far north Queensland.

The James Cook University’s School of Medicine and Dentistry will use the funds to buy four two-bedroom units on the island.

The federal Member for Leichhardt, Jim Turnour, says the property will provide accommodation for students taking part in clinical placements.

“We know if we want to get doctors, dentists [and] allied health professionals working in rural and remote settings then we need to provide them with opportunities to train in these places,” he said.

“To actually get training on the ground up there with Indigenous people and people in a remote location means they’re much more likely to work there in the longer term.”

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Contracts awarded for iron ore project

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mining company BC Iron says its Nullagine iron ore joint venture project with Fortescue Metals Group is gaining momentum, with a number of key contracts awarded.

The contracts include the construction of an accommodation camp for more than 100 workers and a five year agreement with a Western Australian company for ore haulage and transportation.

BC Iron says the awarding of the contracts is a milestone for the company, which expects to start producing ore at Nullagine by the end of the year.

The company initially expects to produce up to three million tonnes of ore a year.

Construction has begun on the workers’ camp which is due for completion by mid-year.

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Fears hospital closure to leave specialists stranded

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Mackay Division of General Practice says tenants at the Pioneer Valley Hospital in north Queensland have nowhere to go when they move out of the facility.

The hospital was forced to close last week after a Workplace Health and Safety report commissioned by the receivers found it was unsafe.

The practice’s chief executive, Christian Grieves, says many of the health specialists say they cannot find alternative accommodation.

He says he has tried contacting the receivers to negotiate, but has not had a response.

“I guess because they’re just the receiver, they aren’t really interested in having in-depth discussions, or they’re not really interested in how difficult it might be,” he said.

“We’ve found out that what they’re saying is at close of business on Thursday the first of April, ‘we’re going to change all the locks whether you like it or not, you can’t get back in after that’.”

A spokesman for the receiver, Ferrier Hodgeson, says the tenants have not been evicted and no time frame has been given for them to move out.

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Mallee rental market tightest in Vic

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Rental markets in Victoria’s Mallee are continuing to tighten and the real estate institute says they are now the tightest in the state.

The institute’s figures show the vacancy rate in Mildura and the Mallee is 0.4 per cent – the tightest it has been for the past year.

Ken Marchingo, from the homeless persons’ agency Loddon Mallee Housing, says renters are finding it tough to find accommodation and are facing longer waits.

“Increasing [wait time] generally, which is disturbing. We see some good things happening like the saver plus program, which has had a bit of airtime up there recently – that does good things for people – but really what we are seeing in places like Mildura … and most parts of Robinvale is an example of a structural failure of our housing market,” he said.

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Beckham may be decisive factor to swing 2018 World Cup bid in England’s favour

March 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 23 (ANI): Ace midfielder David Beckham will play an important role in England winning the bid to host the 2018 World Cup, says Danny Jordaan, the head of this year’s tournament.

Beckham’s presence in South Africa this summer could prove a decisive factor for England even though he has been ruled out from playing through injury.

The chief executive of South Africa 2010 said he expected Beckham to accept England manager Fabio Capello’s offer to travel with the squad for the World Cup.

“I think David Beckham will still come. There is already an indication that he will be part of the [backroom] team and also England is making a bid for 2018 and I’m sure that the bid team will use him during the World Cup. He’s an important factor,” The Telegraph quoted Jordaan, as saying.

“We saw when he went into Khayelitsha [the Cape Town township] for the draw in December, the excitement of the youngsters because he is an important figure in football. I think England’s 2018 committee understand he is a major factor in their bid and if he’s not able to play then he will have more time available to help the bid process.”

Beckham is already a bid ambassador for 2018 and Jordaan added that he felt England had a “realistic” chance of being successful.

With just 80 days to go now, Jordaan conceded that there would be fewer fans — around 100,000 fewer — attending than as originally estimated.

However, he dismissed claims that security fears and the lack of infrastructure — adequate transport links and accommodation — had led to fans’ considering missing the event. (ANI)

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