Two a penny

.Police are investigating three separate armed hold-ups involving syringes across Sydney last night.
The first incident happened in a shop at Neutral Bay about 4:25pm when a man approached the counter demanding cash.
He is described as being white/European, aged between 30 and 40, about 180 centimetres tall, of slim build with short brown hair.
Police say the man threatened a staff member with a syringe before taking off with the money.
This man is described as white/European in appearance, aged in his 30s and of slim build.
Later that night a man entered a inner city store on Oxford Street, threatening staff with a syringe and demanding money.
In the third robbery, a man armed with a syringe demanded money from a taxi driver in Stanley Street, Darlinghurst. He was wearing a blue jacket and black pants. He was wearing a tan coloured jumper and a dark beanie.
He is described as white/European, about 35-year-old with a slim build.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
No-one was injured in the hold-ups and police are examining CCTV footage.

.The New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is refusing to comment on speculation it is about to release the findings of an investigation into the Iguanas nightclub dispute involving Federal MP Belinda Neal and her husband, state MP John Della Bosca.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the office of the DPP is expected to deliver its findings as early as Friday, but the couple says they have had no advice on the matter.
The matter was later referred to the NSW and Commonwealth DPP.
NSW police investigated allegations the couple bullied and threatened staff at the Iguanas nightclub at Gosford in June, as well as contradictory statutory declarations written by those involved.
Mr Della Bosca was stripped of his portfolios pending the outcome of the investigation.
Since then, Mr Della Bosca has repeatedly said he expects to be cleared and returned to the ministry in the education and industrial relations portfolios.

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NSW Premier Morris Iemma has always said Mr Della Bosca will be reappointed if cleared by the DPP

.The chief executive of Sydney Youth Orchestra says they are planning their first tour of central Australia for next year.
Susanne James plans to bring up to 100 young musicians from Sydney to give workshops in Alice Springs, perform educational programs in schools and give a concert at Uluru.
“It’s going to be really exciting, because it’s truly one of the most amazing experiences to come to your part of the world,” she said.
Ms James says she was inspired by the mayor of Alice Springs to bring the orchestra to the desert.
She also says she is planning a varied repertoire to catch the attention of younger people.
Ms James says, if successful, the SYO may make regular trips to the outback.
“Just this year we have done some percussion workshops with youths off the streets, so they can see that you don’t have to be a classical musician with years and years of experience and very expensive instruments.
“One of the things that we’ve done in the past is to send our percussion students out to work in improvisation workshops,” she said.”

.The New South Wales Greens say they have serious concerns about dredging work that is due to begin in Botany Bay as part of a $1 billion port expansion.
The expansion will see five new shipping berths built on 60 hectares of land being reclaimed from Botany Bay.
“This dredging will simply put the area under too much stress and the environmental damage will be extensive,” she said.
Greens MP Lee Rhiannon is worried the work will stir up toxic soil on the bottom of the bay.
“The Government is trying to argue that they will take various remedial measures, but the experts that are advising the Greens have no confidence that this will lessen the damage,” she said.
Ms Rhiannon says the dredging could lead to tidal changes, and disturb fish and bird breeding grounds.”
The Government says protecting the environment will be a priority of the expansion project, but it concedes the work will have some short-term effects.
“The clear answer here is that that the dredging should not go ahead.
“There will be some minor disruptions, there’s no doubt about that, but what we will do is make sure the environmental impacts are limited and temporary, and at the same time we’ll seek to minimise the disruption to recreational users,” he said.
Ports Minister Joe Tripodi says he is confident the right environmental safeguards are in place.
“A whole range of environmental measures have been put in place, including the use of silt curtains designed to catch sediment preventing it from flowing into the remaining parts of the water,” he said.
Mr Tripodi says disruption will be kept to a minimum over the expected 12 month duration of the dredging work.
Work on the port expansion is due to finish in 2011.

.The first of four meetings for former customers of Beechwood Homes will outline how long it may take for homes to be completed.
Resibuildco representative Vic Cavasinni and the insurer, Vero, will today meet with former Beechwood customers in Parramatta.
Ms Burney says people with pre-contract plans should get more information before making their final decisions.
Mr Cavasinni says the process of taking over more than 360 contracts for partially completed homes is happening, but it is a slow process
Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney says homes will be completed but some people may end up paying more for their homes if they take up contracts with the new owner.
“There may be some increases in building costs, but I would imagine these to be fairly minimal.
“There are no guarantees but the people that are pre-contract – those that haven’t had their homes started – will definitely be picked up by the new owner,” she said.”

.Slim hopes are held for the survival of a baby humpback whale separated from its mother in Sydney’s north.
The whale is being closely monitored by the rescuers after being found yesterday at Pittwater and lured to Broken Bay heads.
A spokesman for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, John Dengate, says its only chance is to link up with other whales and particularly its mother.
The state Environment Department says the calf is between two to three weeks old and would be very difficult to feed artificially given it is so reliant on its mother’s milk.
“We’re absolutely on tenterhooks as to what might happen and I guess we’ll just see.
“We can only hope that the little whale has found its mum or has found a female that can look after it and there will be a happy ending,” he said.”

.A man attempted to abduct a 14-year old girl in Sydney’s north-west yesterday afternoon.
Police say the schoolgirl was walking home along Barlow Street in Cambridge Park just before 3:30pm when she heard a vehicle behind her.
It is believed he then got out of the car, approached her from behind and grabbed her by the upper left arm.
The girl says the man called out and offered her a lift home but she refused and continued walking.
The man is described as being of white/European appearance, medium build, about 170 centimetres tall with brown hair.
The girl managed to free herself and ran home.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
His car is described as a dark green late model vehicle.

.The Wests Tigers face must-win games against two of the top NRL teams, Manly and the Sharks, after a 28-point loss to Parramatta last night cost them a share of eighth place.
Eels star Feleti Mateo hurt his knee late in the match but has been cleared of major injury.
Eels coach Michael Hagan says he was pleased with his team’s performance last night.
Parramatta is now within a win of the NRL top eight, to join the Tigers on 24 points.
“Physically, we were very good.
“I think our performance was reasonably dominant,” he said. I did hear that a couple of times this week in dispatches. We did not talk about the fact that we have won the last six times against them.”
Parramatta second rower Nathan Hindmarsh says the team discussed its poor form early this month and vowed to turn its season around.
“We wouldn’t mind playing them every week at the moment.
“We are working more as a team together.
“We had a bit of a yarn a couple of weeks ago about attitude and I think it is showing now,” he said. Forwards are supporting forwards where usually we just throw them in one-out.”

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BEIJING : When Gao Chuancai slipped into the capital last week hoping to stage a one-man rally against corruption in his village in northeast China, he knew his chances of success were;slim.
During his decade-long crusade, Gao, a 45-year-old farmer from Heilongjiang Province, had been jailed a dozen times.
The government's recent announcement that pre-approved protests would be allowed at three sites during the Olympic Games gave him a wisp of hope. Two beatings by the police left him with broken bones and shattered his teeth, he said, but did little to temper his drive for;justice.
During a visit to the Public Security Bureau on Wednesday, the police interviewed him for an hour and then told him to return in five days for his answer. Two weeks ago he mailed in his application, and last week he came to Beijing to follow;up.
Gao did not have to wait very long. “They'll probably arrest me when I go back,” he said;afterward. On Monday, his son, Gao Jiaqing, in the family's village of Xingyi, said he had not heard from;him. A few hours later, he was picked up by the authorities and escorted back to Heilongjiang. “He's under our control now,” said the officer, Wang;Zhuang.

A man who picked up the phone at the Wanggang police station, near Xingyi, acknowledged that Gao Chuancai was being detained at a local hotel. At least three other applicants are in custody.
Gao's ill-fated odyssey is not unlike to the journeys of several other would-be demonstrators who responded to the government's notice that protest zones would be set up during the Games.
Ten days into the Games, the government has yet to permit a single demonstration in any of the three official protest zones. Two, Ji Sizun and Tang Xuecheng, were seized during the interview process at the Public Security Bureau, according to human rights;activists. 1, from 149;people. According to a report Monday by Xinhua, the official news agency, 77 applications have been received since Aug. Two of the remaining requests were turned down because the applicants failed to provide adequate information.
All but three of those applications, however, were withdrawn after the authorities satisfactorily addressed the petitioners' concerns, Xinhua said.
Demonstrations are not illegal in China, but they require advance government approval, a prospect that often dissuades citizens, daunted by excessive bureaucracy or potential retaliation. The last was rejected after the authorities determined it violated China's laws on;demonstrations. Any rally deemed a threat to “social stability and public order” can be denied permission, and most;are. Posters and slogans must be submitted to the police, and each participant must apply in person.
Still, he said, the International Olympic Committee should be held accountable for not pressing China on the issue.
Still, he said, the International Olympic Committee should be held accountable for not pressing China on the issue. “The IOC seems oblivious to the fact that they're holding the Games in a repressive environment,” he ;said.
Giselle Davies, spokeswoman for the IOC, said she hoped Beijing would follow the path of other host cities and allow demonstrations to take place in designated areas but that the issue was one for local officials to;decide.
For Gao, the five days he spent in Beijing were both nerve-racking and exhilarating. He said he knew the police from Heilongjiang were on his trail, but he was buoyed by the possibility that a foreign reporter might tell his story. “With the Olympics here, now is the best time to remind the world that China still has problems that need to be solved,” he;said.
His handwritten poster listed a series of grievances against Xingyi and Wanggang officials. He accused them of stealing money meant to compensate farmers after their land was confiscated and described how he was jailed and beaten for publicizing his allegations. Last year, he wrote, his wife swallowed a fatal dose of pesticides at the Wanggang government building in the futile hope she might shame officials into releasing the;money.
The police arrested Gao, saying he had given her the poison. A court released him, but the police warned him against continuing his campaign. Gao said the police told him that if he caused trouble again, he could be;killed.
He was not deterred. When he arrived in Beijing, he slept in a different hotel or bathhouse each night, hoping to evade security officials who often trace people through their registration;information.

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MANILA : Islamic separatists attacked several towns and villages Monday in the troubled southern Philippine region of Mindanao, killing at least 28 people in a rampage that, officials said, included hacking several people with machetes and spraying bullets into;buses.
The attacks came as tens of thousands of villagers in other areas of Mindanao were returning to their homes following the fighting last week between government troops and the Muslim;rebels. The rebels, according to officials, also burned down houses.
News reports from Mindanao said several of the victims had been hacked with machetes.
Officials said more than 200 rebels attacked at least four towns in two provinces in;Mindanao. The police said that the fatalities were mostly civilians, mainly farmers, while an undetermined number were;soldiers.

“I will crush any attempt to disturb peace and development in Mindanao,” the president said in a radio;address.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called the attacks “sneaky and treacherous” and ordered the military and the police “to defend every inch of Philippine territory” against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main Islamic separatist group operating in;Mindanao. “They used them as human shields,” Atendido said, speaking on the radio station DZBB.
The civilians were killed when the rebels withdrew, said Brigadier General Hilario Atendido, a military commander in the area.”
According to news reports, the rebels also took several residents as hostages. “The rebels killed them on their way;out. The driver did not say how many of his passengers were wounded or;killed. A bus driver told a radio station in Mindanao that the rebels, shouting “Kill them all!” fired on his bus.
“The military is doubling its forces,” he told ABS-CBN television.
Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo, the governor of Lanao del Sur Province, said that the rebels were moving toward Christian-dominated towns in the coastal areas and that the military was directing its forces to protect those;places.”
Eid Kabalu, a spokesperson for the rebel front, said it was still checking reports that the attackers were rebels. “The highest priority now is to secure the coastal;towns.
But in case the rebels were front members, Kabalu urged them to stop the violence and to pull out of the province. He urged the public “not to jump to conclusions” as the front investigated the;attacks.
The violence this week, which began on Sunday in Lanao del Sur, where four soldiers and four military-supported militia members were killed, is certain to complicate the peace negotiations between the government and the;front. He said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front did not issue any directive to carry out the;attacks. But it was scuttled as a result of protests over the concessions that were to be given to the Muslim rebels.
Two weeks ago, both sides had reached an agreement that they thought could end the fighting. Analysts had said the breakdown of the talks could lead to more;violence. Analysts had said the breakdown of the talks could lead to more;violence.
The new attacks, said the army chief, General Alexander Yano, were a “clear manifestation of the insincerity to the peace process of a significant portion” of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. This, he added, “is a virtual declaration of war against the duly constituted;authority.”