| Tassie teens defy drinker image
Research conducted at four Tasmanian high schools has revealed that up to 73 per cent of students rarely or never drink liquor. The study was a joint initiative of the Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies, the University of Tasmania Department of Rural Health and Tasmania Police. Project director Dr Clarissa Hughes said while the social-norms approach had been used in the US, the Tasmanian trial was a first for Australia. She said SNAP (Social Norms Analysis Project) had been developed based on US research which found students over-estimated how often and how much their peers drank and made decisions about their own alcohol consumption on that. "Our strategy was to get accurate information about drinking behaviour in specific schools and then communicate the truth with the goal of reducing the pressure on students to conform to a false perception." Dr Hughes said early results were showing a statistically significant decline in alcohol consumption and attendance at parties after students had been involved with the project.
Will the Prince Turn Pauper?
Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei once was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Now he's worried he may soon be homeless and forced into bankruptcy. "They want me to give it all back," he says, flanked by giant Dutch landscape paintings and billowing gold drapery in the cavernous living room of his London villa, where he resides with one of his three wives and two of his 18 children. "We don't know where we are going to live." The 53-year-old younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei, Prince Jefri is on the losing end of one of the world's most colorful family feuds. It started a decade ago, when the prince was stripped of his government roles and later accused by Brunei authorities of misappropriating $14.8 billion of the royal treasury's money. He denies that, but there's no doubt much had been expended on Prince Jefri's famously sybaritic lifestyle.
Yarra crash pilot was trapped, say investigators
THE pilot who died when his helicopter crashed in Melbourne's Yarra River may have been unconscious, a crash investigator says. The dead pilot, Edward Geldard, was probably unconscious or stunned and unable to get out of the helicopter after it crashed last night, said Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigator in charge Sam Webb. "I think it's a tragic consequence where the pilot was not able to get out," Mr Webb said. "The impact was not that severe but it may be related to him being stunned from the impact." Mr Geldard, 46, of Ferny Creek, 40km east of Melbourne, lived with his wife and teenage son and daughter, and was general manager of The Sponsorship Unit group of companies, which included Aussie Copters. A co-pilot, whose first name is Jason, escaped the crash and was rescued by a passing boat driver Jay Hall, who saw him struggling in the water after being injured.
Reekie puts on show in Stars' win
The Stars, meanwhile won their 11th straight home game, and moved within two points of second place in the West Division.In the fourth round of the extra session, Kretzer got Lincoln’s only goal of the shootout, while Indiana was denied on all five of its tries by Lincoln goaltender David Reekie. Reekie stopped 31 shots while improving to 16-4-1."David Reekie closed the door again," Stars coach Jimmy McGroarty said.Lincoln had lost its previous two shootouts this season. But both of those came before Reekie arrived. He loves the shootouts, and Reekie figured he has won about 70 percent of the shootouts in his career."Shootouts are fun" Reekie said. "I know my job is to just stop the puck, and hopefully we can score a couple. Krezter scored the big one."It was Forfar that allowed Lincoln to push the game to overtime when he scored in front of the net six minutes into the third period.
Clemens a no-show at Astros minor-league camp
My answer was, 'I don't know where that's going. We'll just have to wait and evaluate what happens.' But I don't see anything that's occurred right now that would jeopardize his contract. That's what was overstated."
Clemens' contract begins after he retires. He threw batting practice to minor-leaguers Wednesday and Thursday, but McLane said he did it voluntarily and did not get paid. The Astros said earlier in the week that Clemens also planned to work with the minor-leaguers on Friday.
Koby said his father wanted to fly home to attend a baseball tournament in which his younger brothers were participating. Koby said Roger will return to Florida, but he did not know when.
Dodgers
Los Angeles pitcher Jason Schmidt is taking a break from throwing but said Friday that it is part of the rehabilitative process.
Cloverfield 's a Monster
The film's $40 million Friday-Sunday take was a January record, the box-office-tracking firm said. Katherine Heigl's coming out as an above-the-line movie star, meanwhile, turned out pretty well. Her bridesmaid comedy, 27 Dresses, scored $27.4 million over the long weekend; its three-day gross of $23 million was akin to the 2003 debut for Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde 2. In the weekend rankings, 27 Dresses took second behind Cloverfield. Five spots way below was the new comedy Mad Money ($7.7 million Friday-Sunday; $9.3 million Friday-Monday), which could boast of stars Queen Latifah, Diane Keaton and Katie Holmes but not much else. As the competition could attest, Cloverfield was a hard movie to top. It hogged the good reviews, along with the ticket buyers—no movie in major or limited release played to more filled seats.
Mired, but not divided
He named, and first espoused, the doctrine of soft power: the ability of a state, especially the United States, to pursue its interests by convincing others of the value of its ideas and the attractiveness of its culture, rather than by the exercise of force. He notes that, while public approval ratings of the United States have declined precipitously in Europe over the past five years, "if you ask them why America has sunk so low, is it the culture and values or is it the policies, they say policies." And policies can be changed. That is not to say that the next president's task will be easy. A jumble of Pandora's boxes struggle to break open. Let Islamic fundamentalists seize power in Karachi, and the nuclear weapons that come with it; let Iran detonate a device; let Iranian troops enter Iraq to protect the Shiites and Saudi Arabian troops respond to protect the Sunnis; let the aged, ailing, deeply corrupt House of Saud lose its grip on power; let Hugo Chavez consolidate a bloc of Latin American states hostile to American interests; let China's 750 million impoverished peasants rise up against the cities and the regime; let that regime – desperate to provide a distraction – decide to settle the Taiwan question once and for all; let Russia exploit its new oil wealth to launch a cool war to lessen American influence in Europe and Asia.
When Kanye West dropped The College Dropout Hip Hop listeners ...
He's a career artist, with a love and passion for music. Read on as he also discusses how years of grinding help him cope with the ups and downs of the music industry, Chicago Hip Hop, sports, and politics, as well as how growing up in one of Chicago's roughest neighborhoods has shaped his music. SoundSlam: I know you've been working on a new album. How is that process going? Are you close to being finished? Twista: Yeah, I'm pretty much finished. Usually when I work on my albums I get to the point where I'm considered finished I might still have like two tracks, maybe three tracks to do. So I would consider it like 90% finished, but it's pretty much a wrap. I think I got something hot. SoundSlam: For The Day After, I read that you experimented with the way you made songs for that album.
Main suspects are warlords and security forces
I feel noone will claim this attack and murder and if that proves true, I feel that it strengthens my suspicions that Saudi Arabia was behind the murder of Benazir Bhutto, either directly or indirectly. Saudi Arabia still holds the greatest power and influence in the entire Muslim world and it would certainly go against everything the Muslim governments, Muslim religion, Muslim ideology and their leaders stand for to have a woman and a woman's influence over that part of their world. Stop and think how much Bhutto has been Westernized and the impact of Westernization she would have had on the Muslim women of the Islamic world. The Saudi government can not allow that to happen as they would stand to loose politically and influentially over the entire area. Keep in mind that the Saudis do ore behind out backs than they do to assist us.
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