| Is this the last shout for pubs and clubs?
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd's historic ideas summit will look at slashing the number of bars in Australia and reducing their opening hours to break the binge drinking culture gripping the nation. One of the summit's hand-picked leaders, Tim Costello, said yesterday access to alcohol in Australia was too easy and tackling the problem would be high on his agenda at the April summit in Canberra. "There are far too many outlets," he said. "Closing times need to be adjusted. The way we serve alcohol in a responsible way, the codes for serving alcohol, need to be tightened." Amid growing evidence of a drinking epidemic, Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital said yesterday the number of drunken louts turning up injured had quadrupled in the past five years. Emergency Department director Phillip Kay said the main offenders were young men aged 17 to 25, although some were as young as 14.
Amtrak strike could cripple commuter rail service
Suburban commuters stranded from Virginia to Massachusetts. Train service shut down at New Yorks Pennsylvania Station and Chicagos Union Station. A flood of extra cars on already congested highways around Washington and San Francisco. Come Jan. 30, that nightmare could be a reality unless a long-standing labor dispute between Amtrak and nine unions is resolved.
There has never been a strike in Amtraks 36-year history, and its still likely that one will be averted, either through a last-minute deal or intervention by Congress. Here's how commuter rail services would be affected by an Amtrak strike: NEW JERSEY TRANSIT
About 218,000 trips per day are taken on trains that travel at least partly on tracks owned by Amtrak. Those tracks would be off-limits during a strike.
Davis has a special message at luncheon
Davis a huge proponent of the weekly meetings brought three of his athletes. He introduced two Brave football players, Seth Broadhead and Roberto Corral. “Seth wanted it to be known that he is a 185 pounder as was moved to offensive tackle and defensive tackle," Davis said, “so he is eating a lot of pizza so he could hold his own." Davis also brought Kaylin Barnes and Johnathan Holmlund from the cross country team. Righetti .
Wilson tackles 'daunting' prequel to Anne of Green Gables
Nevertheless, "what drew me in [to the prequel project] was the puzzle as to who [Anne] was in the early years and how she became who she is when she met Matthew off that train." In the original book, Anne makes just a few short references to her difficult background, Wilson said. Readers only learn that she had lived a hard life in two foster homes and an orphanage before travelling to P.E.I. "I knew if I was going to do this book, it was my job to fill in the gaps and explain how she could go through all that and still emerge in P.E.I. as a feisty and mentally healthy and articulate, forward-looking person," Wilson said. Montgomery released Anne of Green Gables in 1908 and the story has become one of Canada's most successful fictional tales ever — translated into 36 languages, read by millions around the globe, adapted into a hit TV series, films and several musicals.
The Tyrant and the Bomb, Part II
Like his father, the dictator knew that Pyongyang would need help to achieve the ultimate objective of worldwide recognition and his life's dream: a nuclear bomb. The weapon is the one thing that brings 22 million North Koreans (with annual GNP per capita of about $800) on par with 290 million Americans (GNP per capita of $35,400). The official route was relatively unproductive. The Yongbyon ("Project 9559") research reactor the Soviets built for the "Great Leader" went into operation in 1965. North Korean scientists acquired their expertise in Moscow and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. By becoming a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1985, North Korea agreed to use nuclear power exclusively for peaceful purposes. But the megalomaniac from Pyongyang managed to find others in the world who wanted to break out of the club of nuclear have-nots and build the bomb themselves.
Next Weeks Almanac Digest
The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mercury, Neptune, Jupiter and Venus. The evening stars are Mars, Saturn and Uranus. Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include English poet Edmund Waller in 1606; industrialist George Pullman, inventor of the railway sleeping car, in 1831; telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell in 1847; U.S. Army Gen. Matthew Ridgway in 1895; movie star Jean Harlow in 1911; "Star Trek" actor James "Scotty" Doohan in 1920; Lee Radziwill, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in 1933 (age 75); former football star Herschel Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, and Olympic gold medal heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, both in 1962 (age 46); and actors David Faustino ("Married ... With Children") in 1974 (age 34) and Jessica Biel ("7th Heaven") in 1982 (age 26).
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