the federal government will give a further $20 million to help with the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza. The new funding is an addition to $10 million provided in January for emergency and humanitarian relief through United Nations and international and Australian non-governmental organisations.A 22-day Israeli offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip ended on January 18 after causing massive devastation and killing more than 1,300 Palestinians.In a statement released by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith's office on Saturday, it was announced the new funding will be committed at an international donors conference on the recovery of Gaza in Egypt on Monday. It is estimated 100,000 people are displaced and living in shelters.The Australian government has committed $75 million to the Palestinian territories since December 2007.
Gold passes given to 26,000 - free travel for NSW. = over $100,million /yr. If all put into train =208 carriages. Includes 22,535 in railcorp; 3318 state transit; 96 Sydney ferrues; 23 in ministery of Transport. Is given to anyone with 30yrs service - also rai union boss.
Zimbabwe's leaders want more money ...Australia is giving $10 million more, Sweden $15 million & Britain already gives $96 million/year. Still want more as is $190 billion in debt. Wantsregional counterparts to give $3 billion over next 10 mths
The Federal Government and private sector will invest up to $43 billion over eight years in a super-fast national broadband network, in the "single biggest infrastructure decision in Australia's history".Under the new plans, the funding for the network offering speeds of up to 100 megabits per second will be provided by a national broadband network corporation in which the Government will be the majority shareholder. The network will be operated separately from retail telcos such as Telstra and Optus.The fibre-to-the-premise network will run to 90% of homes and businesses. The Government will make an initial investment of $4.7 billion in the company but intends to sell its interest within five years after the network is fully operational.
But as official donations headed towards $34 million last night, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission warned of fraudulent charities taking advantage of the country's generosity. Police in Queensland were investigating two reports of fraudulent collection, offences that carry sentences of five years' jail. By yesterday the Red Cross had taken about $28.2 million, including $1 million the Premier, Nathan Rees, pledged on behalf of NSW. The Red Cross call centre was taking as many as five donations a second and had been bolstered with staff from the Commonwealth Bank.
The Salvation Army had received $5.5 million and directed the first tranche - more than $800,000 - into the hands of victims. The office is still stacked with cheques waiting to be processed. The Red Cross Blood Service has also been overwhelmed by donations.About 20,000 people have called to give blood in the past three days. Ordinarily, the service would expect 120 donations in that time. Up to 100 people, about one-fifth of Marysville's population, may have died in the inferno that swept through the town, Victorian Premier John Brumby said on Wednesday.
Everyone else thought Haneef was innocent. Even the right-wing paranoiacs at ASIO thought so. Keelty himself admitted that he shouldn't have been charged. But on the AFP went, pretending that there was still some serious possibility that they could ping a terrorist.
The cost of this extended exercise in a-se-covering steadily grew. By December last year, the cost had reached $7.5m, including a $1.6m overtime bill. By May, the cost had reached $8.2m. Keelty justified the burgeoning cost of an investigation into an innocent man by declaring that it related to matters arising from last year's terrorist plots in the UK other than Haneef. He has never elaborated on what exactly they are. Only $3.2m of the $8.2m, Keelty claimed, had been spent directly on investigating Haneef. No breakdown for these figures has ever been provided.
Crikey asked the AFP for information on the total cost of the investigation now that it had been concluded, but it did not respond by deadline. Our own pro-rata calculations suggest that, based on Keelty's Estimates evidence, the AFP was blowing about $37,000 a week on the investigation, and would have racked up more than $500,000 since May in additional costs. This brings the total cost of the investigation close to $8.8m.
Overnight the Federal Reserve and the world's other major central banks collectively pumped 180 billion US bucks ($AUS 224 billion dollars) into the ailing global markets.
That amount of money is so mindboggling that we at Crikey decided to try to put all those zeros into context.
So, did you know that $180 Billion US ($180,000,000,000) is
· Enough to buy 61,000,000,000 Happy Meals!
· 3673 times the minimum value of free, privately sponsored trips taken since 2000 by members of (US) Congress and their staff;
· 494 times the amount the US military spent since 1994 to replace service members discharged for being gay;
· 720,000 times the amount that Israel paid to relocate each settler from the Gaza Strip;
· 150 times the cost of tax payer money spent on the Apollo 13 mission;
· 124,930 times the cost of the world's most expensive commercial car, the Bugatti Veyron;
· 105,882 times the amount that Egypt owes the US in unpaid parking tickets;
· 66 times the cost of US spending on missile defence each year since President Reagan's 1983 "Star Wars" speech;
· 150 times the amount spent between October 1st 1992 and October 1st 1995 on US Nuclear testing activities in the US;
· 448 times the cost of Eureka Tower construction in Melbourne;
· Over half of the total output value of China's machinery industry in 2003.
Each gold medal that the Olympic team won cost Australian Taxpayers about $15.6 million* in direct Federal funding. With $26 million in direct funding from the Australian Sports Commission, each Paralympic gold medal cost $1.1 million. Even in these crude terms, it looks like Paralympic medals are a bargain, red spot special compared to grossly over priced Olympic accolades.
$15.6 million is below the oft cited $17 million, as the $17 million was calculated before the diving gold was won - the problem of old media deadlines
The defence dept. claims impropriety over a multi million dollar contract for the army's new backpack. BAE bid for a $20 million defence contract for 20,000 new rucksacks. -- allegations include rigged test results, sabotage of rival's equipment & irregularities in the tendering.
the federal government fears a calamity if help doesn't get to the millions of Burmese left homeless and hungry after Cyclone Nargis savaged their country.
Australia has boosted its aid to the cyclone-ravaged nation to $25 million but has great fears about the impact of the ruling military junta's continued refusal to accept international help.
More than a week after the cyclone, Burma's ruling generals are still blocking entry for many foreign aid workers, as well as impounding a number of flights of emergency supplies.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith stressed the scale of the tragedy made it imperative for Burma's ruling regime to accept assistance.
"It's a human tragedy on a mammoth scale which no one nation can handle," he said.
But the federal opposition says Australia's increased aid offer to Burma of $25 million is still "totally inadequate".
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb says that $25 million still isn't enough.
"We must offer many times what we've offered to date," Mr Robb told ABC Radio on Monday.
