News: Need diamonds fast? Vending machine. Of course.

1. Need diamonds? Use the ATM.

Are you ever in such a rush that you think ‘gee, I just don’t have time to go into a regular store to buy the diamonds I need right this moment’? Then has Mumbai, India, got the machine for you! The capital of the subcontinent has become the first city in the world to roll out diamond dispensing machines. Machines that dispense gold have been around for a while, but these are the first ones dedicated to a girl’s best friend.

2. Abbott will repeal pokie reforms

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has vowed to repeal the poker machine reforms – mandatory pre-commitment technology – if he wins Government. This would join the list of other Labor legislation such as the carbon tax he has vowed to wind back. But any vow to change the laws won’t be so easy without a majority in the senate, with Greens holding sway there. This would give Mr Abbott two fronts on which he may be able to call a double dissolution election should he push for it. Clubs around Australia are said to derive 40 per cent of profits from problem gamblers and mandatory pre-commitment technology would help these gamblers set personal limits, while limiting the amount of cash that could be withdrawn from on-site ATMs.

3. Man dies in immigration centre

A Sri Lankan man, in his 20s, has apparently committed suicide after being denied the chance to attend a religious festival. The man, who was held at the Sydney Immigration Residential Housing Complex next to Villawood Detention Centre, had been in Australia for two years and had been granted refugee status but was waiting for his security clearance and had been held in detention.

4. Women give birth to record number of babies

297,900 babies! That’s how many bubs were popped into existence last year in Australia, the largest number in history. Despite the baby boom the nation’s fertility rate still declined a smidge to 1.89 babies per woman (only statistically, thankfully). Dads are on average 33.1 years old when they first hunker down to the business of fatherhood. The data? From the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

5. Amazing rescue in Turkey quake

Three generations from the one family were pulled alive from the rubble including a two week old baby Azra who had been trapped for 48 hours since a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Turkey. Got to love some good news.

6. Queensland introduces bill for civil union, likely to pass it

The Queensland Deputy Premier Andrew Fraser last night introduced a Private Member’s Bill into the State Parliament to push for same-sex civil unions. The bill required the suspension of normal standing orders which caused a ruckus among non-Government MPs who said there were more important issues to debate. Mr Fraser said the outrage was ‘confected’ and that it would only be 10 minutes in the day. The legislation will be voted on in a conscience vote. The Liberal National Party Opposition said it would consider a conscience vote once it saw the legislation saying they had a clear policy against same-sex marriages but might think differently in regard to civil unions.

7. Lindsay Lohan will pose nude for Playboy, $1 million

The troubled actress, recently jailed (briefly) again for breaching her probation for stealing a $2500 necklace, has reportedly signed a $1 million deal to pose nude for Playboy. Lohan had earlier rejected an offer of $750,000 to do the same.

8. Zoning law problems? Build a 65-storey earthscraper … underground

This is a novel way to avoid pesky height limits in places like, Mexico City, for instance. When the authorities banned buildings over eight stories high, architects BNKR Arquitectura have planned a building that will stretch 65-stories below the Earth’s surface and feature a glass panel across the building’s ‘foot’ print which people could walk across, if they are daring enough. The glass cap would allow natural light to filter in.

9. Need to pay with a swipe? There’s an app for that.

The Commonwealth Bank has taken the lead with a new payment method – a downloadable app called Kaching – which sends the info normally encoded in the magnetic strip of a credit card hurtling toward machines like cash registers using technology called Near Field Communication (NFC) which is already in use in the US. The result? Credit cards won’t be necessary for much longer. Just tap and buy. Kaching will include password encryption technology to ensure a lost or stolen phone would not compromise a user’s personal banking details as no personal banking information is stored on the phone. It’ll be available on Apple iPhones using iOS4 and above. Would you use it?

10. Blind dog has own guide dog

Oh. Adorable. Six-year-old Lily, a great dane, suffered a condition that made her eyelashes grow inwards and damage her eyeballs so much they had to be removed. Blind, she has come to rely solely on seven-year-old Maddison in the same animal shelter where they have been kept in Wales. Would-be owners walked right by as the shelter insisted the pair be kept together. “Everything they do involves close contact; they check in with each other all the time. They have developed such a strong bond; they always know what the other is doing, so we wouldn’t split them up. That would be quite unfair to both dogs.” But after going public, they’ve been inundated with potential new homes.

11. And here is a Halloween house light display timed to the tune of LMFAO’s Party Rockers