1. Beyonce shows off her baby belly in new video
This woman is stunning. Always. She can dance, sing, all the rest. The preview shots and 30-second teaser clip give a little tease of the new song Countdown which will be released today. She sings: ‘I’m tryin’ to make us 3 from that 2′ in the song, before three images of her displaying her bump are shown. Anyone else here Beyonce fans? Everyone?
2. 14-year-old arrested on drugs charges in Indonesia
The youngest ever Australian will face drugs charges in Indonesia after allegedly being found with almost 7 grams of marijuana in his possession. There are no children’s court systems or jails in the country and he could face 12 years’ prison if convicted, although there is a provision in Indonesian law for a child to receive half that. The boy was on holidays with parents and friends and allegedly bought the $28 worth of marijuana from a man who was begging for money. Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has told Consular officials to make securing the boys release their top priority.
3. The Taj Mahal may collapse in five years
Cracks have formed in the 358-year-old Indian icon and it is also beginning to tilt, due to rotten wooden foundations which need to be fixed … and soon. “If the crisis is not tackled on a war-footing, the Taj Mahal will cave in between two and five years,” Indian lawmaker Ramshankar Katheria, who represents the Agra area, said. “The architectural wonder of the world is losing its shine, and if this persists the minarets may also collapse since the wooden foundation – beneath the wells – is rotting due to lack of water.”
4. Swearing in the media: Terrible or bloody awesome?
Keep your profanities to body parts and functions for the media and you might fare OK, according to a study about attitudes to swearing in television. The study looked at responses from more than 2000 people. It found that older people were more concerned than younger people and that every second person had been offended by something they had had heard on television. How do you rate?
5. Westboro Baptist Church says it will picket Steve Jobs funeral … tweets from iPhone
Nice job.
6. (Another study) finds good bosses … are better.
That’s kind of obvious. But what makes a good boss? An 18-month study by the Society for Knowledge Economics (presented at the Federal Government’s Jobs Forum) found that High Performing Workplaces have 12 per cent higher productivity than Low Performing Workplaces when ranked in terms of their innovation, employee engagement, fairness, leadership and customer satisfaction. The study looked at 78 corporations and 5000 workers. Right, we might have known all this. So, did it miss anything? What makes your workplace better?
News brought to you by Rick.
And here are the pictures we’re talking about this week:
Top Comments
I'm fairly certain the kid was set up but the parents are idiots for not having warned him - my kids are younger than this but know all about these sort of scams. It's classic South East Asian police entrapment.
What's more interesting I think is Kevin Rudd's brilliant bit of dog whistling: "Obviously, this little bloke is, you know, 14 years old and I think anyone who’s a parent – and you are, I am – if you’ve got teenage kids, we all live in fear of them running into problems with the law – legal authorities at home or abroad through whatever behaviours. And therefore, both as a parent, but also as Foreign Minister, my job is to make sure we do everything we can." Hmmm .... Is there anyyone who's job he is after who is not a parent that he is trying to suggest is not up to the job? A bit more subtle than Heffernan but he's saying exactly the same.
Of course it is possible that he meant nothing by it and it was a perfectly innocent comment. If you do think that I wonder if I could interest you in a bridge I happen to own in Sydney?
So over hearing about bloody Beyonce and her pregnancy, anyone would think she was the first woman to ever be pregnant! Yes you're in love, yes you're having a baby, we get it, you're not the first and won't be the last. Now can we move on please?
Really? I love hearing the happy stories, they make me feel... happy!
Peace.