Gillard 'changed her mind' on Medicare

The Gillard government has confirmed workers will face a tax increase through the Medicare levy to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme

AUSTRALIANS will pay the highest effective tax rates in almost a decade under Julia Gillard's plan to lift the Medicare levy to part-fund the national disability insurance scheme.

In a broken promise after previously saying she would not fund DisabilityCare with the levy, Ms Gillard announced a hike from 1.5 to 2 per cent because she had "changed her mind".

Ms Gillard said she would take the policy, which would mean an average worker earning $70,000 pays $1400 a year - a $350 increase - to the election.

Just hours later she changed her mind again and said if Opposition Leader Tony Abbott pledged support for the rise, she would bring it before "parliament immediately".

It is understood Ms Gillard, having broken a promise not to introduce a carbon tax before the last election, decided she would seek a mandate for the change.

Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan announcing plans to raise the Medicare levy to help fund disability insurance. Picture: Getty Images

Ms Gillard is in Launceston to sign a forestry deal but she expected to talk on the NDIS.

As business groups condemned the hike and a leading economist warned the impact could spark a Reserve Bank rate cut, Mr Abbott would not commit to  backing the move, which would earn the government an extra $3.3 billion a year.

He criticised the increase for raising less than half what was needed for the NDIS.

As well as hitting higher income families, more lower wage earners would be trapped paying a tax rate of 29c charged while they catch up on paying the Medicare levy when their income exceeds the $20,542 threshold.

Jessica Irvine and Tory Maguire discuss the levy to fund the disability scheme

Ms Gillard said she had been forced to change her mind because of a $12 billion revenue shortfall and the need to support states in rolling out the NDIS.

The money raised by the levy would be put in a fund that could be used only for DisabilityCare, either directly or by funding state implementation.

"I will be asking the Australian people to endorse this choice in September," Ms Gillard said.

Her staff engaged in a petty Twitter squabble, with one tweet from her press office's official account replying "Meeow" to a staffer of Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said, while the NDIS was an important reform, a levy should only be introduced after pilots, evaluation and a 10-year implementation plan.

"Then and only then should we put all the funding options on the table, including a levy on all taxpayers, and determine the best approach following a cost-benefit analysis,'' she said.

Peak doctors' group the AMA and disability groups supported the levy rise yesterday.

"It is an opportunity for truly transformational reform for the benefit of the most vulnerable people in our community.

"We need to have a properly funded, and reliably funded, scheme for it to be successful," AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said.

Head of the Disability Advocacy Network Andrea Simmons said: "The NDIS is too important to be allowed to languish through a failure to find the necessary funding. The Productivity Commission has been clear a properly funded NDIS will save Australia money in the long run and  is a people and wealth-building investment."

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the impact of the levy rise  on a person earning $100,000 with a $250,000 mortgage would be the equivalent of a 0.25 per cent rate rise and that the RBA may have to lower rates in response.

A 0.5 per cent hike to take the levy to 2 per cent would add to Australia's top marginal tax rate of 45c in the dollar - effectively taking the highest marginal rate to 47c,  the highest effective tax rate since 2005-06, when the rate was  47c before former treasurer Peter Costello's last round of tax cuts.

Mr Costello said this week the NDIS, education reform Gonski and Mr Abbott's proposed levy on big business to fund generous paid maternity leave were unaffordable.

University of NSW tax expert Professor Neil Warren said it would also hit lower income earners, with more people being caught by higher taxes to "claw back the threshold".

Income earners above the $20,542 threshold will have to catch up on paying the levy so are taxed at jl10 per cent, in addition to the 19c tax rate which applies to lower income earners.

Catch up will apply up to an upper threshold of $25,677 under the proposed hike, up from $24,167.

The government said yesterday it had cut taxes, including for high-income earners, with a spokeswoman for Treasurer Wayne Swan saying a person on $300,000 was $6053 better off.

People earning $30,000 had received tax breaks of $1053 since 2007, she said and average wage earners on $70,000 were $1303 better off. 

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bomb arrest trio 'trying to help'

Attorneys for two of the men charged with obstructing the investigation into last month's fatal Boston Marathon bombing say their clients deny any wrongdoing. Deborah Gembara reports.

THREE college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested and accused of trying to protect him by going into his dorm room and getting rid of a backpack filled with hollowed-out fireworks three days after the deadly attack.

The three 19-year-olds - Kazkh nationals Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakovwere and American Robel Phillipos - are not accused of any role in the bombing itself.

But in a footnote in the court papers outlining the charges, the FBI said that about a month before the tragedy, Tsarnaev told two of them that he knew how to make a bomb.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both of whom came to the U.S. from Kazakhstan, were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by concealing and destroying evidence.

Robel Phillipos, who graduated from a Cambridge, Massachusetts, high school with Tsarnaev, was charged with lying to investigators about the visit to Tsarnaev's room.

Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev waived their right to bail in court and agreed to voluntary detention.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, on a visit to Times Square in 2012 with Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, who were arrested and charged with covering up for the Boston Marathon bombers. Picture: Fox News.

Their next hearing is scheduled for May 14.

Phillipos, is charged with making false statements to federal investigators. He awaits a court appearance.

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov, Kazakh nationals in the United States on a student visa, face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $US250,000 ($A242,000) fine, the Justice Department said.

Phillipos faces up to eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the FBI account, just hours after surveillance-camera photos of the Boston Marathon suspects were flashed around the world April 18,

Three men accused of providing aid to Boston Marathon suspects have been arrested. Fox News

Tsnarnaev's friends suspected he was one of the bombers and removed the backpack along with a laptop from Tsarnaev's room at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

One of them later threw the backpack in the garbage, and it wound up in a landfill, where it was discovered by law enforcement officers last week, authorities said. In the backpack were fireworks that had been emptied of their gunpowder.

The lawyers for the Kazakh students said their clients had nothing to do with the bombing and were just as shocked by the crime as everyone else.

Phillipos' attorney, Derege Demissie, said outside court: "The only allegation is he made a misrepresentation.''

At a court appearance, the Kazakh students did not request bail and will be held for another hearing May 14.

This courtroom sketch shows signed by artist Jane Flavell Collins defendant Robel Phillipos appearing in front of Federal Magistrate Marianne Bowler at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston. Phillipos, and two other college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were arrested and charged with removing a backpack containing hollowed-out fireworks from Tsarnaev's dorm room. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins)

Phillipos was held for a hearing on Monday. If convicted, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Phillipos faces a maximum of eight years behind bars and a $250,000 fine.

Three people were killed and more than 260 wounded on April 15 when two bombs exploded near the finish line.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died after a gunfight with police days later. His 19-year-old brother was captured and lies in a prison hospital.

Their mother has said the allegations against them are lies.

Investigators have not said whether the pressure cooker bombs used in the attacks were made with gunpowder extracted from fireworks.

This courtroom sketch signed by artist Jane Flavell Collins shows defendants Dias Kadyrbayev, left, and Azamat Tazhayakov appearing in front of Federal Magistrate Marianne Bowler at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston. The two college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and another man, were arrested and charged with removing a backpack containing hollowed-out fireworks from Tsarnaev's dorm room. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins)

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov have been in jail for more than a week on allegations they were in violation of their student visas, one because he was skipping classes, the other because he was no longer enrolled.

All three men charged Wednesday began attending UMass with Tsarnaev in 2011, according to the FBI.

Tazhayakov was allowed to return to the US from Kazakhstan in January despite not having a valid student visa, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

His student-visa status had been terminated because he was academically dismissed from the university, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The FBI said that before Tsarnaev's roommate let the three friends into the room, Kadyrbayev received a text message from Tsarnaev that read: "I'm about to leave if you need something in my room take it,'' according to the FBI.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was reportedly refused entry to Saudi Arabia in 2001. Picture: AP/Julia Malakie

When Tazhayakov learned of the message, "he believed he would never see Tsarnaev alive again,'' the FBI said in the affidavit.

It was not clear from the court papers whether authorities believe that was an instruction from Tsarnaev to destroy evidence.

Once inside Tsarnaev's room, the men noticed a backpack containing fireworks, which had been opened and emptied of gunpowder, the FBI said.

The FBI said that Kadyrbayev knew when he saw the fireworks that Tsarnaev was involved in the bombings and decided to remove the backpack "in order to help his friend Tsarnaev avoid trouble.''

Kadyrbayev also decided to remove Tsarnaev's laptop "because he did not want Tsarnaev's roommate to think he was stealing or behaving suspiciously by just taking the backpack,'' the FBI said.

How did Boston terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev - whose mother was also on a terror database - slip through the cracks, despite warning signs?

After the three returned to Kadyrbayev's and Tazhayakov's apartment with the backpack and computer, they watched news reports featuring photographs of Tsarnaev.

The FBI said Kadyrbayev told authorities the three men then "collectively decided to throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get into trouble.''

Kadyrbayev said he placed the backpack and fireworks along with trash from the apartment into a large trash bag and threw it into a garbage bin near the men's apartment, according to court papers.

When the backpack was later found, inside it was a UMass-Dartmouth homework assignment sheet from a class Tsarnaev was taking, the FBI said.

The court papers do not say what happened to the laptop.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and TamerlanTsarnaev pictured at the Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/FBI)

In a footnote, the FBI said: "Tazhayakov also informed the FBI agents that while eating a meal with Dzhokhar and Kadrybayev approximately one month prior to the marathon bombing, Dzhokhar had explained to Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov that he knew how to make a bomb.''

Robert Stahl, an attorney for Kadyrbayev, said his client "absolutely denies the charges'' and didn't know that the backpack and fireworks were part of the bombing case.

Kadyrbayev is "just as shocked and horrified by the violence in Boston that took place as the rest of the community is,'' the lawyer said.

He also denied that Kadyrbayev instantly recognized Tsarnaev's photo, saying: "His first inkling came much later.''

Tazhayakov's lawyer, Harlan Protass, said Tazhayakov "feels horrible and was shocked to hear that someone he knew at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth was involved with the Boston Marathon bombing.''

Katherine Russell, the American wife of marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, leaves the house where he lived in Cambridge, the day after Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout with police. Picture: Austral via William Farrington / Polaris

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov lived at an off-campus apartment in New Bedford, about 60 miles south of Boston, and got around in a car registered to Kadyrbayev with a souvenir plate that read "Terrorista #1.'' The car was pictured on Tsarnaev's Twitter feed in March.

The plate was a gag gift from some of Kadyrbayev's friends, meant to invoke his penchant for late-night partying rather than his political sentiments, Kadyrbayev's lawyer said last week.

Michael McKeown, 20, attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School with Tsarnaev and Phillipos.

"He wasn't a stupid kid,'' the Boston University sophomore said of Phillipos. "I'm surprised he would do something this foolish.''

Saudi Arabia warned US about Tamerlan Tsarnaev

The mother of the two Boston bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, left, speaking at a news conference in Makhachkala, the southern Russian province of Dagestan.

The arrests came after it emerged Saudi Arabia reportedly sent a written warning to the US about Boston Marathon suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev last year and refused him entry to the country over security concerns.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia wrote to the US Department of Homeland Security about the older Tsarnaev brother in 2012, a senior Saudi official says.

The official told the Daily Mail the warning was based on intelligence from Yemen and was separate to concerns raised by Russian intelligence.

He also revealed Tamerlan was refused an entry visa into Saudi Arabia for the Mecca pilgrimage in December 2011.

Russian agents placed the older suspect under surveillance during a six-month visit to southern Russia last year, then scrambled to find him when he suddenly disappeared after police killed a Canadian jihadist, a security official said.

The father of the two Boston bombing suspects, Anzor Tsarnaev speaks at a news conference in Makhachkala, the southern Russian province of Dagestan.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 and his younger brother Dzhokhar are accused of carrying out the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon, which killed three and wounded more than 264 at one of the world's premier sporting events.

The Saudi official said the warning, which was also shared with the UK Government, was "very specific" and warned "something was going to happen in a major US city".

The "government-to-government" letter "did name Tamerlan specifically", the official told the Daily Mail.

An official from Homeland Security denied the department had received any such warning from Saudi Arabia.

"DHS has no knowledge of any communication from the Saudi government regarding information on the suspects in the Boston Marathon Bombing prior to the attack," an unnamed offical told the Daily Mail.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police as he tried to flee the Boston area three days after the bombing.

Dzhokhar was wounded and captured, and now faces terror charges carrying a possible death sentence.

The Saudi official said the letter was sent by the Saudi Ministry of Interior in part so the US could inspect packages being sent to Tamerlan in the post.

"With Saudi Arabia it's always code red," he said.

"There's no code orange, or code yellow. Always red."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev's relatives will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said.

Tsarnaev, 26, has been at the medical examiner's office in Massachusetts since he died after a gunfight with authorities more than a week ago.

Amato DeLuca, the Rhode Island attorney for his widow, Katherine Russell, said on Tuesday that his client had just learned that the medical examiner was ready to release Tsarnaev's body and that she wants it released to his side of the family.

Police said Tsarnaev ran out of ammunition before his 19-year-old brother dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing the scene. His cause of death has been determined but will not be made public until his remains are claimed.

"Of course, family members will take possession of the body," uncle Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. "We'll do it. We will do it. A family is a family."

He would not elaborate. Tsarnaev's parents are still in Russia, but he has other relatives on his side of the family in the U.S., including Tsarni.

Tsarnaev's father, Anzor, announced plans last week to travel to the US in the hope of burying his elder son, but he said on Wednesday that those plans are off because he is suffering from bad headaches and high blood pressure. The 46-year-old Tsarnaev said he still hopes to go when he is feeling better.

Reports came as it was revealed the Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance - a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to housing from 2002 to 2012.

The state has handed over more than 500 documents to the 11-member House Post Audit and Oversight Committee, which Monday met for the first time and plans to call in officials from the Department of Transitional Assistance to testify.

"I can assure members of the public that this committee will actively review every single piece of information we can find because clearly the public has a substantial right to know what benefits, if any, this family or individuals accused of some horrific crimes were receiving,'' said state Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, the committee's chairman.

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kriss Kross rapper dies aged 34

Chris Kelly and Chris Smith, of the rap duo Kriss Kross, made it big with their smash hit Jump. Kelly, left, has died at the age of 34. Source: Supplied

CHRIS Kelly, of the 1990s rap duo Kris Kross, has died at the age of 34.

Kelly, with Chris Smith, shot to stardom in 1992 with the hit Jump. He died at an Atlanta hospital after being found unresponsive at his home, CNN reports.

Investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said Kelley was pronounced dead on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) at the south campus of the Atlanta Medical Centre.

Honey said authorities are unsure of Kelly's cause of death and that an autopsy has yet to be performed.

Kelly, known as Mac Daddy performed alongside Chris Smith, known as Daddy Mac, in the early and mid-90s. They are best remembered for the song Jump from their 1992 debut album, Totally Krossed Out.

The rappers, known for wearing their clothes backwards, were discovered at an Atlanta mall in 1991 by Jermaine Dupri, according to Billboard.com.

with wires

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Did you have these experiences as a kid?

Did you play in the rain as a child? Source: Supplied

That does look like fun. Picture: Kit Wise

FROM rolling down hills to birdwatching, these are the 50 activities every child should do before they turn 11 3/4. How many did you grow up doing?

More than four in five adults say their children spend less time playing outside than they did at their age, according to research by the UK's National Trust.

So, in an effort to entice youngsters away from their TV screens, the charity asked children to name their favourite outdoor activities. As a result, 15 fresh ideas - including running barefoot in the grass, star-gazing and exploring a cave - have been added to last year's list of '50 things to do before you're 11 3/4'.

The initiative followed a study that found if children do not form a connection with the great outdoors before they are 12, they are far less likely to later in life.

"In Australia, we are so lucky to have so many opportunities to get outside that are right on our doorstep" says Kidspot's mum of three Ella Walsh. "My family are so fortunate to live in an area where we are close to the beach as well as big open spaces where my kids can happily play for hours. They have grown up clambering over rocks, trawling for shells, and hunting for crabs. They learnt to ride their bikes on the coastal walkways and to kick a ball in the parks near our home."

Almost a third of the 1,700 youngsters who took part in the research said going on a long bike ride was their favourite outdoor pursuit.

Interestingly, another popular addition was bird watching, with one in ten children listing it in their top three outdoor activities. 

"Star gazing is a great one as well," Margaret Rafferty from Kidspot's Parent Exchange told news.com.au. "Last December I got my nine-year-old up at 1am so we could go and look at the Geminids meteor shower. It was such a special experience." 

And while it's puzzling to some, Kidspot's Ruth Devine loves the inclusion of conkers on the list. "Playing conkers was a rite of passage in our house growing up," she said. "We'd spend hours baking them in the oven or soaking them on vinegar to harden. Now I love doing this with my own kids. Gathering conkers is a favourite way to spend a blustery autumn day. And as for playing Pooh sticks, I cannot walk across a bridge without having a go and nor can my kids."

Here's the list - what are your favourites?

ADVENTURER

1. Climb a tree

2. Roll down a really big hill

3. Camp out in the wild 

4. Build a den 

5. Skim a stone 

6. Run around in the rain 

7. Fly a kite 

8. Catch a fish with a net

9. Eat an apple straight from a tree 

10. Play conkers (a game played using the seeds of horse-chestnut trees)

DISCOVERER

11. Go on a really long bike ride 

12. Make a trail with sticks 

13. Make a mud pie 

14. Dam a stream 

15. Play in the snow 

16. Make a daisy chain 

17. Set up a snail race 

18. Create some wild art 

19. Play Pooh sticks (A game played in Winnie the Pooh, where you drop a stick off the upstream side of a bridge to see whose comes out first downstream)

20. Jump over waves 

RANGER

21. Pick blackberries growing in the wild

22. Explore inside a tree 

23. Visit a farm

24. Go on a walk barefoot 

25. Make a grass trumpet 

26. Hunt for fossils and bones 

27. Go star gazing 

28. Climb a huge hill 

29. Explore a cave 

30. Hold a scary beast 

TRACKER

31. Hunt for bugs

32. Find some frogspawn 

33. Catch a falling leaf 

34. Track wild animals 

35. Discover what's in a pond 

36. Make a home for a wild animal 

37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool 

38. Bring up a butterfly 

39. Catch a crab 

40. Go on a nature walk at night

EXPLORER

41. Plant it, grow it, eat it 

42. Go swimming in the sea 

43. Build a raft 

44. Go bird watching 

45. Find your way with a map and compass 

46. Try rock climbing 

47. Cook on a campfire 

48. Learn to ride a horse 

49. Find a geocache 

50. Canoe down a river 

 - With Nick McDermott and Kate Midena

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Second grubby pic on newsreader's page

Seven Brisbane newsreader Bill McDonald. Picture: Seven Source: news.com.au

Bill McDonald and Sharyn Ghidella present Channel 7's nightly news in Brisbane. Picture: Luke Marsden Source: news.com.au

A CHANNEL SEVEN newsreader who was reportedly counselled by the network just three months ago for a grubby Facebook post has had a second vulgar image appear on his personal page.

Brisbane news anchor Bill McDonald landed himself in hot water in February after a raunchy picture of the Australian landscape which resembled female genitalia was posted on his social media account. 

The post was deemed at the time "an offensive, sniggering pub-type joke'' and in poor taste by a media insider.

While Seven refused to confirm how McDonald was cautioned after the incident, news.com.au understands he was counselled on his social media use by the network.

But despite the talking to, news.com.au was today alerted to another distasteful picture on his page which was visible to the public.

Yesterday, an image which shows two women in jeans accompanied by the caption "Camel Toes" appeared on the father-of-four's Facebook page.

The image was shared with the words "when girls hide that" alongside the picture.

A Channel Seven spokesperson told news.com.au: "This matter is deeply worrying to everyone involved. Facebook can be a dangerous medium when used inappropriately. We have begun an urgent investigation into the security on this Facebook site."

Mr McDonald has also been approached for comment.

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Creepiest things kids say to parents

The ultimate creepy kid: Haley Joel Osment in the The Sixth Sense. Picture: Supplied Source: Herald Sun

YOU asked for it. This story freaked so many of you out we've collected more of the creepiest things to come out of the mouths of real children - and it makes The Sixth Sense look like a Pixar film.

When social media site Reddit asked parents to share the creepiest things their children have said to them, close to 11,000 people responded.

The thread has since spread and it seems that everyone loves a creepy kid.

News.com.au had such a huge response to its article we just had to share our readers' experiences, and our favourite creepy kid responses.

Think you can do better? Comment below or tweet us at @newscomauHQ

VJ of ORANGE: My son, then aged three, asked who the man in the photo was. I told him that it was my grandfather but that he died not long before you were born. He said "but he comes and talks to me at night sometimes and gives me a kiss goodnight".

Dr of Canberra: My friend's four-year-old was making a necklace. When asked what she was doing her reply was, "I'm making a necklace as a going away gift for Gayle" (my friend's grandmother). Later that night my friend's mother called to tell her that her grandmother had died.

Twigz of Brisbane: My four-and-a-half-year-old said to me, "when daddy gets back I want to put you on the road so he can run you over and never walk again".

Anna North of NSW: When my daughter was three or four, my mum was looking after her and when she went to the loo, left the door open so she could see my daughter who turned to her and said, "grandma you should shut the door, that man's watching you."

Jess S. of Adelaide: My nephew who was not quite five-years-old told me while I was 21 weeks pregnant he wanted to be my doctor and cut my baby out of my stomach. "I want to get my knife and cut you open and take your baby out."

Cathnn of NSW: When about to depart his grandparents' house one evening, my seven-year-old son said: "STOP dad, I forgot to say goodnight to Nanny, I MUST say goodnight". He was quite upset and insisted he go back inside to give his grandmother a kiss and cuddle. She died that night.

CP of Brisbane: I turned my son's light off to send him to sleep and he said, "mama I see eyes everywhere".

Diastrophus: My (then) five-year-old: "Doesn't it bother you at night having that dead girl watch you sleep." 

Here is a sample of some of the best posts so far from the original story on Reddit:

Unfortunatebirthmark: I was tucking in my two-year-old. He said "Good bye dad." I said, "No, we say good night." He said "I know. But this time it's good bye." Had to check on him a few times to make sure he was still there.

NotTomPettysGirl: Not to me, but to his grandmother. He was cuddling with her and being very sweet (he was about 3 at the time). He takes her face in his hands, and brings his face close to hers, then tells her that she's very old, and will die soon. Then he makes a point of looking at the clock.

GatorMcGovern: A friend of mine's child told him "Daddy, I love you so much that I want to cut your head off and carry it around so I can see your face whenever I want."

evillawnornament: "Daddy sleep" then pushing my head underwater at the pool.

Thingsimeantobe: My five-year-old at the time had night terrors and would scream in her sleep. One night I said 'mama's here it's okay'. She looked right at me still asleep and screamed 'mama? But who is that behind you?

jelb32: My five-year-old son asked me last week "what do you see through the black circles in my eyes when you're controlling me when I'm at school?"

Like_I_was_sayin: My three-year-old daughter stood next to her new born brother and looked at him for awhile then turned and looked at me and said, "Daddy it's a monster. We should bury it."

abluesxs: I jokingly asked: "What's the best way to get a girlfriend?" 7-year-old's response: "Tell her to be my girlfriend or she'll never see her parents again."

psalm_69: I was sound asleep, and at around 6am I was woken up by my 4-year-old daughter's face inches from mine. She looked right into my eyes and whispered, "I want to peel all your skin off".

olafthebent: "So I shouldn't throw him in the fire?" 3-year-old daughter holding her baby brother for the first time.

Share your creepy anecdotes by posting a comment or Read more here

Continue the conversation via Twitter @newscomauHQ

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gillard confirms tax hike for NDIS

The Gillard government has confirmed workers will face a tax increase through the Medicare levy to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme

JULIA Gillard has confirmed workers will face a $300-a-year tax increase on average through the Medicare levy if she's re-elected to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

But she has indicated the proposal will not be legislated in the current Parliament - suggesting the plan to hike the Medicare levy from July 1, 2014,  will be taken to the election as Labor's policy.

Arguing it would cost the average worker on $70,000 a year just $1-a-day, the Prime Minister conceded it represented a break with her previous pledge not to increase the Medicare levy to fund disability care.

A family earning $100,000 a year will pay $500 extra on their Medicare levy, families on $150,000 will pay $750 a year and $200,000 earners will pay $1000.

Ms Gillard said she had hoped to fund the scheme through savings but after a $12 billion shortfall in projected revenue and savings falling short of what was needed to fund the NDIS, she decided on a levy rise.

Julia Gillard has announced a 0.5 per cent rise in the Medicare levy to fund the NDIS.

"This is the right thing for the nation. This is the choice I've made. I know I am asking Australians in their millions to step up and pay an increase in the Medicare levy,'' the Prime Minister said in Melbourne.

She said it "was not an easy choice" to ask Australians to pay more and she said workers would be able to answer whether they wanted to hand over more money to the Government for disability care at the election in September.

Families Minister Jenny Macklin confirmed there would be no further crackdown on disability support pensions to fund the scheme.

After Ms Gillard's announcement, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he was "very happy to see the NDIS legislated in this Parliament".

Jessica Irvine and Tory Maguire discuss the levy to fund the disability scheme

"Why not? Let's get it into the Parliament and let's deal with it," he said.

"The PM doesn't have too many monuments. She hasn't done that much except give us the carbon tax that she promised would never happen and a succession of deficits that she promised wouldn't be happening.

"If the PM wants some kind of monument out of this Parliament,  give us the legislation and let's deal with it."

Mr Abbott said he would support the NDIS if he thought it was responsibly funded.

Tax revenue will shrink by $12 billion by the end of June, according to new Treasury forecasts.

"Let's get to the detail," he said.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said the levy increase was "not an easy decision but it was the right decision."

The tax hit will raise $20 billion over the next six years.  A quarter of the money will go to states to set up the NDIS scheme.

"We are asking people to pay a little more to do a lot more for a group of Australians that have been left behind,'' Mr Swan said.

The $3 billion-a-year tax increase would be used only for disability services but would not fund the entire cost of the scheme with further savings required.

Ms Gillard said she had broken her pledge not to increase the Medicare levy for three reasons: the hit to the tax revenues, her discussions with the states and the calls for disability advocates to make sure there was peace of mind and security around funding issues.

"I have thought about this deeply and I have changed my mind," she said.

"The Government will need to make savings for those cuts and there will be no free ride for states and territories.

"All of the money raised will be put in a special fund for disability care. Every cent raised would be raised on disability care.

"Every Australian lives with the prospect that at some time they or one of their family members could be confronted by a profound disability," she said.

Mr Swan said it was vital the NDIS had a "stable, secure funding scheme".

"The advantage of this fund is that all of the money raised from the levy goes straight to this fund and cannot be used for any other purpose," he said.

Ms Macklin spoke about a family in Melbourne who had a disabled son at the announcement today.

"(They) have explained to me how hard it is to get respite, how hard it is to get a couple of days off," Ms Macklin said.

"How hard it was to get a new wheelchair for him as he got older.

"This is the reality for families and carers and people with a disability in Australia at the moment. This is why we need the … National Disability Insurance Scheme.

"I do want to assure families and their carers that this very important part of the disability support net will remain."

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett baulked at signing up to the scheme, saying the increased Medicare levy is the "easy'' part of funding the plan.

Mr Barnett thinks WA will eventually be part of a national scheme but he wants greater flexibility and a more decentralised model before he commits to it.

"We're not going to sign up to a take-it or leave-it proposal,'' Mr Barnett told ABC radio.

Mr Barnett said the cost of the scheme could top $22 billion and that was unaffordable.

"I will not sign up for a scheme that is not even funded,'' he said.

Every Australian Counts campaign spokesman John Della Bosca said it was important to have certainty around NDIS funding.

"A levy does have its attractions... it;s transparent, people know what they're spending their money on and that they're getting a benefit from a social insurance scheme," he told ABC Radio earlier today.

"Anyone can suffer a severe and profound disability at any time."

Mr Della Bosca dismissed comments from former Treasurer Peter Costello and business leaders claiming that now was not the right time for the NDIS because there was no Federal Budget surplus.

"Australians with a disability have waited long enough," Mr Della Bosca said.

"It's a question of priorities."

With Lanai Scarr, AAP

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bestiality billboard to be removed

A new billboard featuring beastiality has been designed to get people talking. Picture: Supplied Source: news.com.au

A BILLBOARD featuring a man about to have sex with a pig will be removed, Foxtel says.

Pedestrians were today confronted with the image that was part of an ad campaign for Foxtel's arts TV channel Studio, which is produced by SBS.

A Foxtel spokesperson said: "It was intended to provoke, but is clearly in appalling taste and demonstrates a lapse of judgment by Studio and a failure in the approvals process at Foxtel.

"Once senior management at Foxtel became aware of the nature of the image we instructed Studio to remove and replace the billboard."

The spokesperson said this will happen as soon as possible and Foxtel regrets any offence that has been caused.

The bestiality image was taken from the controversial UK TV show Black Mirror which will air in June as part of the channel's "Festival of WTF!".

It relates to an episode of the program in which a princess is kidnapped and the British PM must commit bestiality on live television in order to save her from being executed.

STUDIO general manager Chris Keely said earlier today that the best art is divisive and provocative.

"You may love it, you may hate it, but you'll definitely be talking about it," Mr Keely said.

The billboard in Sydney's Kings Cross is the only outdoor place in which the bestiality image ran, but it was also going to appear in print and online.

Mr Keely said the image reflected the new programs on STUDIO and the station's "bold new attitude".

"We want to bring you stories and ideas you'd never think of googling, and challenge what you think is acceptable or unacceptable," he said.

Charlie Brooker, the writer of E4's Dead Set, returns with a suspenseful, satirical three-part mini-series that taps into collective unease about our modern world.

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

FBI's global hunt for third man

The brothers accused of carrying out the Boston bombings planned to carry out an attack in New York.

The FBI is investigating the United States and overseas to determine whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing received training that helped them carry out the attack, the chairman of the US House Homeland Security Committee said.

Republican Michael McCaul spoke a day after US officials disclosed that Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the two brothers suspected in the attack, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, vaguely discussed jihad with his mother.

"I think given the level of sophistication of this device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe - and the way they handled these devices and the tradecraft - ... that there was a trainer and the question is where is that trainer or trainers," McCaul told Fox News Sunday.

"Are they overseas in the Chechen region or are they in the United States?" McCaul said.

"In my conversations with the FBI, that's the big question.

They've casted a wide net both overseas and in the United States to find out where this person is. But I think the experts all agree that there is someone who did train these two individuals."

At this point in the investigation, however, Senator Claire McCaskill said there was no evidence that the brothers "were part of a larger organisation, that they were, in fact, part of some kind of terror cell or any kind of direction.''

The Democrat, who's on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that "it appears, at this point, based on the evidence, that it's the two of them."

Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one.

Fox News has released an image of what appears to be an exploded backpack at the scene of the Boston bombings. Source: Supplied

Investigators are pursuing other "persons of interest" who may be linked to the deadly bombings.

"There are still persons of interest in the United States that the FBI would like to have conversations with," Congressman Mike Rogers, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told US TV's This Week. He declined to provide a number.

Authorities are also investigating whether Tamerlan had links to an Islamist leader, Gadzhimurad Dolgatov, who led a local cell of the Caucasus Emirate, Russia's most feared Islamist group.

Known as "Robin Hood", he was responsible for dozens of attacks and bombings in Dagestan before being killed in December by Russian forces.

Before he was killed, Tamerlan made several videos where he threatened to kill police officers and anyone who helped them, which he posted on his YouTube channel, CNN reports.

After returning to the US from Dagestan, Tamerlan put the videos up in a folder marked "terrorism".

One was a message recorded by Dolgatov, posing in front of a banner in Arabic script.

"I'm warning you," he said in the video. "I'll kill you just like I'll kill them (police officers). Don't become their pawns. If you have brains, you won't want to die leaving behind widows, orphans and crying mothers. We'll destroy you. If you side with the police, you are helping Satan. I'm warning you."

A Russian Interior Ministry official said: "We're looking into whether the two men met or had any contact. It's odd Tsarnaev should post Dolgatov's video. How come he was even aware of his existence?

"We can't rule out that Tsarnaev was introduced to him. Clearly, he was impressed by him if he posted his video. The question is why?"

A senior US official said: "Dolgatov was an obscure figure with local significance for a short period of time - the time Tamerlan was in Dagestan. The fact that Tamerlan viewed his videos online appears to be significant. It just seems to be too much of a coincidence."

The moment of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's arrest aftera dramatic shootout with police. Picture: via Twitter/Imgur Source: No Source

A new government document obtained by ABC news has raised suspicions about Tamerlan and his visits back to Russia.

Speculation surrounds Tamerlan and the possibility that he was being trained in Russia.

The document says: "Such construction would likely require previous knowledge of or additional research into circuitry."

With the Boston marathon bombing suspect in a prison hospital, investigators are pushing forward and abroad to piece together the myriad details of a plot that killed three people and injured more than 260.

Boston firefighters, right, talk with FBI agents and a crime scene photographer at the scene of Monday's Boston Marathon explosions, which killed at least three and injured more than 140, in Boston, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Recently, it was revealed that Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the Boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother, officials say.

In another conversation, the mother of now-dead bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case.

Had the conversations been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.

Russian authorities told the FBI only that they had concerns that Tamerlan and his mother were religious extremists. With no additional information, the FBI conducted a limited inquiry and closed the case in June 2011.

Two years later, authorities say Tamerlan and his brother, Dzhohkar, detonated two homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260.

Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout and Dzhohkar is under arrest.

How did Boston terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev - whose mother was also on a terror database - slip through the cracks, despite warning signs?

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, suspected mastermind of the Boston bombings. Picture: Splash Australia Source: The Sunday Telegraph

In the past week, Russian authorities turned over to the United States information it had on 26-year-old Tamerlan and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, ethnic Chechens who emigrated from southern Russia to the Boston area about 11 years ago.

In early 2011, the Russian FSB internal security service intercepted a conversation between Tamerlan and his mother vaguely discussing jihad, according to US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The mother of the brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings has lashed out at US authorities.

The two discussed the possibility of Tamerlan going to Palestine, but he told his mother he didn't speak the language there, according to the officials, who reviewed the information Russia shared with the US.

In a second call, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva spoke with a man in the Caucasus region of Russia who was under FBI investigation.

Congressman Mike Rogers, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on US TV's This Week show that there are still "persons of interest" the FBI would like to speak with in the USA. Picture: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The mother of the two Boston bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, with the suspects' father Anzor Tsarnaev, left, speaks at a news conference in Makhachkala, the southern Russian province of Dagestan, on Thursday. Picture: AP Source: AP

Nothing in the conversation suggested a plot inside the US, officials said.

It was not immediately clear why Russian authorities didn't share more information at the time.

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has denied that she or her sons were involved in terrorism. She believes her sons have been framed by US authorities.

The sons' father has been hospitalised, preventing his departure for the United States, he says.

Anzor Tsarnaev told Ria Novosti news agency he had left Makhachkala, capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan, for Moscow to catch a flight to the United States but had to be hospitalised due to a sudden rise in his blood pressure.

Bombing suspects Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and TamerlanTsarnaev pictured at the Boston Marathon. Picture: AP Photo/FBI

Speaking from his home in Makhachkala in Russia's south, the father of the Tsarnaev brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon attack says his children were framed. Deborah Gembara reports.

"I am in hospital but not in Moscow," Mr Tsarnaev said, refusing to say where he was.

"Due to the illness I've decided to put off for the moment my journey to the United States."

The parents of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects have retreated to a village in southern Russia to shelter from the spotlight and abandoned plans for now to travel to the United States.

Anzor Tsarnaev said he believed he would not be allowed to see his surviving son Dzhokhar.

"Unfortunately I can't help my child in any way. I am in touch with Dzhokhar's and my own lawyers. They told me they would let me know (what to do)," Tsarnaev said in an interview in the village where he relocated with the suspects' mother.

He agreed to the face-to-face meeting on condition that the village's location in the North Caucasus, a string of mainly Muslim provinces in southern Russia, not be disclosed.

The mother of the Boston bomb suspects says it is all a set-up and her elder son was controlled by the FBI for years. Lily Grimes reports.

FBI crime scene investigators look for evidence just off Boylston Street near Berkeley Street April 17, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Darren McCollester/Getty Images/AFP

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gai v Singo: WTF is going on?

We'll assume he wasn't blowing up about her fashion sense Source: The Daily Telegraph

Businessman John Singleton has sacked trainer Gai Waterhouse following a clash on live television.

ON THE surface, the John Singleton/Gai Waterhouse bust-up is a story about racing. But it's actually about much more than that.

It is about friendship, family, integrity, trust and the fundamental problems with having an upstart 32-year-old bookmaker in every Australian lounge room.

If you've missed the finer points, here's a super quick five point summary, followed by five early lessons from this still unfolding yarn:

1. THE BLOW-UP
Colourful businessman and horse owner John Singleton splits acrimoniously on live television with his long-term trainer Gai Waterhouse. Gai is the mum of Tom Waterhouse, whose relentless self-promotion has made him one of Australia's most disliked public figures.

2. THE FAILURE
The split occurs because Singleton has a mare called More Joyous engaged in a big race called the All aged Stakes at Randwick. More Joyous is no Black Caviar, but it once won eight races in a row. On Saturday it runs second last.

3. THE ALLEGATIONS
Singo blows up after the race, not because his horse has lost, but because he says a friend heard from Tom Waterhouse that the horse had health issues and was "no chance" of winning. The inference is that Tom must have got that info from Gai. Tom Waterhouse denies the allegations and is considering legal action.

4. THE FOOTY STAR TIE-IN
It then emerges that Waterhouse tipped Channel Nine commentator Andrew Johns a different horse to More Joyous in a casual interaction during Friday Night Footy. On The Sunday Footy Show, Johns says Waterhouse said nothing negative about the horse's health. He also reveals that he himself backed More Joyous. Meanwhile, Waterhouse says he lost $300K on the race, thereby inferring that he wanted More Joyous to win, and believed it could win.

5. THE TENSE PHONE CALL
There is also reportedly a phone call between mother and son where Gai asks Tom if he has told anyone More Joyous was not well enough to win. Tom says 'no, Mum'. A more thorough inquest will take place next Monday, headed by NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy.

SO THERE'S YOUR SUMMARY. NOW HERE ARE FIVE THINGS WE'VE LEARNED SO FAR...

1. THE FAMILY DEFENCE DOESN'T CUT IT
The Waterhouses really have to stop defending each other in public. Three weeks ago, Gai Waterhouse said everyone should lay off her son because he was such a productive young Australian. Today Tom Waterhouse has defended his Mum saying "if anyone does not think Mum is out there trying to win every time, they don't know her". Gee, that settles it, then.

2. PEOPLE NOW LIKE TOM EVEN LESS
Tom Waterhouse is everywhere, bombarding people of all ages with his gambling information. The guy has a weird role on Nine's Friday Night Footy which is passed off as editorial content when  really he's just spruiking gambling odds. People don't like him for that. Now that he's embroiled in all this, they like him even less.

3. SOMETHING LIKE THIS WAS ALWAYS GOING TO HAPPEN
When you're hanging out with that many sports stars who enjoy a bet, and when you're a bookie whose Mum is a top horse trainer, there will always be people like John Singleton who question the information chain. The words "conflict of interest" come very strongly to mind.

4. THE WATERHOUSE NAME TAKES ANOTHER BATTERING
Tom's father Robbie and grandfather Bill were warned off Australian racecourses for being implicated in the Fine Cotton horse substitution scandal in the 1980s. Tom plays on his family's gambling knowledge in his ads, as though it's something people should respect. In truth, many people still haven't got over Fine Cotton.

5. RACING IS BACK TO NORMAL AFTER BLACK CAVIAR
Two weeks ago, racing was in the headlines for a fast horse which always tried its hardest and won every race it contested. Children loved the horse, and racing momentarily seemed like a happy, open, family kind of sport. How very quaint that suddenly seems.

22.54 | 0 komentar | Read More