ARIA Awards Concert Series 2010 - iTunes Live:

iTunes has teamed up with the Australian Recording Industry Association to bring fans a five-night musical extravaganza – the iTunes Live: ARIA Awards Concert Series 2010.

In the lead-up to the 2010 ARIA Awards on Sunday November 7, iTunes has teamed up with the Australian Recording Industry Association to bring fans a five-night musical extravaganza – the iTunes Live: ARIA Awards Concert Series 2010.

Taking place in Sydney's Botanic Gardens, and featuring performances from the cream of this year's nominees, the winners of 16 ARIA "Genre" Award categories are being gradually revealed throughout concert series. The awards celebrate the artists currently standing at the top of their specialist genres, and runs until Friday November 5.

The series got off to a thrilling start, when it welcomed John Butler and singer/songwriter Dan Sultan to the stage for the festival's opening night.

The first of the genre awards went to Parkway Drive, the winners of the Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album for their album Deep Blue. The same evening saw Best Music DVD go to the Sound Relief concert, while Mamadou Diabate, Bobby Singh and Jeff Lang, of world music supergroup Djan Djan, walked away with the Best World Music Album for the band's self-titled album.

Tuesday night offered performances from new sensation Washington and special guests Boy & Bear. Monday night's performer Dan Sultan was given the award for Best Blues and Roots Album, The Wiggles won Best Children's Album, and the tribute album Before Too Long: Triple J's Tribute To Paul Kelly was awarded the Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show award.

Guy Sebastian headlined Wednesday night's show, supported by rock band Amy Meredith. Gongs were given to James Morrison and The Idea of North for their jazz collaboration Feels Like Spring; Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP walked away with Best Dance Release for We Speak No Americano; and M-Phazes won Best Urban Album for Good Gracious.

Thursday and Friday nights will unveil the awards for Best Country, Adult Contemporary, Comedy Release, Classical, Pop, Rock and Adult Alternative albums, as well as showcase the talents of Australian artists Sia, Sally Seltmann, Angus and Julia Stone and Old Man River.
Live recordings of all performances from the iTunes Live: ARIA Awards Concert Series 2010 are for sale exclusively on iTunes. 

For more on the ARIA Awards, including a full list of nominees, visit: cloud computers

Inland Sea Closes In On Swan Hill

Emergency services say an inland sea of water is slowly making its way towards Swan Hill, in north west Victoria.

The flood waters along the Murray River are expected to reach a peak of 4.84 metres in the town later in the week.

The town's levee is expected to contain the unprecedented amounts of water.

Local authorities say the communities on the outskirts of Swan Hill such as Pental Island and Tyntynder Flats will be the hardest hit.

Keith O'Brien from the SES says a number evacuation warnings have been issued for communities in the north west.

"From Murrabit West to Benjaroop and we're also talking about the area of Benjaroop up to Fish Point and also the residents of Pental Island, which is just south of Swan Hill," he said.

"All of those have been advised that during the night or the early hours of the morning we're likely to start to see inundation."

Evacuation warnings are in place for Pental Island, just south of Swan Hill, and several other communities, including Milnes Bridge, Kerang East, Meade and Pyramid Creek.

Residents of Pental Island are being told the Little Murray River could break its banks.

Mr O'Brien says people there are being advised to leave now or face being stranded.

"We're looking at considerable periods of high water levels, best indications we have at the moment is that some locations may have water isolating them for up to 10 or 12 days," he said.

Locals have been busy sandbagging their own properties, as well as lending a hand to others.

Mavis Wardle's home could be under threat when the flood waters peak.

She says friends and neighbours have turned out to help sandbag her home.

"This has blown me away, I just cannot believe it, people are so wonderful," she said.

"And even other people that have got trouble themselves, probably got more problems than what we've got, for people to do that it's just fantastic."

Swan Hill local Brian Wood says it is stressful waiting for the waters to rise.

"There's a lot of anxiety, obviously we're in unknown territory, you're hearing the reports coming through saying how high it's going to be and you just can't imagine how high that could be," he said.
"So we're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best."

Man Killed In Highway Accident

The D'Aguilar Highway north of Brisbane was closed this morning because of a fatal road crash near Woodford.

A man died at the scene when two cars collided just before 7am (AEST).

Another person has been taken to the Caboolture Hospital.
Police say the highway is closed near the quarry affecting travel between Caboolture and Woodford.

Australia 'Most Sinful' Country On Earth

Australians have come out on top as the world's most envious people in a tally of the seven deadly sins.

BBC magazine Focus found Australians also scored highly for the other six sins, making Australia the 'most sinful' country on Earth.

"Sin-prone" Australia was followed by the US, Canada, Finland and Spain.

Researchers used a points system to determine which countries committed the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride), the most.

The tally compared national statistics for plastic surgery (pride), theft (envy), violent crime (wrath), number of annual holidays (sloth), annual salary (greed), money spent on fast food (gluttony) and porn (lust).

Australians ranked first for envy and third for lust and gluttony.

Despite a fondness for the occasional sickie, sloth was was identified as the sin Australians were least likely to commit, with eight other countries considered lazier.

Six nationalities were considered more wrathful and three more greedy or proud.
Highest in each of the sin categories were the US (gluttony), Mexico (greed), South Korea (lust), Iceland (sloth and pride), Australia (envy) and South Africa (wrath).

WikiLeaks Founder Assange Slams Swiss Banker Arrest

The founder of whistleblower site WikiLeaks attacked Switzerland on Sunday for arresting a Swiss banker on suspicion of breaching banking secrecy instead of investigating the tax evasion he said he had uncovered.

In an interview published in the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag, Julian Assange, whose website has angered Washington by releasing confidential U.S. diplomatic cables, said Switzerland's actions were drawing renewed international attention to its controversial banking practices.

On Friday the Swiss prosecutor's office said former banker Rudolf Elmer would be detained over the weekend after police questioned him about breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws. A judge will decide on Monday whether to remand him for longer.

Police took Elmer into custody on January 19 after he handed

computer discs to Assange for WikiLeaks at a news conference in London earlier in the week. Elmer indicated the CDs contained details of as many as 2,000 offshore bank accounts.

"Mr. Elmer is in prison because he has revealed a criminal offshore system of tax evasion in which Swiss banks play a leading role," Assange was quoted as saying in an interview.

"Instead of investigating these offshore structures and going after the tax evaders, the authorities are going after Mr. Elmer," he said.

The newspaper, quoting Assange in German, said it had received his comments via a WikiLeaks intermediary.

In a separate case, Elmer was also convicted on January 19 of breaching banking secrecy by passing on private client data to the tax authorities and of threatening employees at his former firm Julius Baer.

Elmer has appealed against this verdict.

Swiss media have speculated that the data Elmer handed to WikiLeaks on Wednesday concerned Julius Baer operations in the Cayman Islands, where Elmer had headed its operations, and are therefore not covered by laws protecting Swiss banking secrecy.

Switzerland's bank secrecy helped it build a $2 trillion wealth management industry but the laws have come under intense global attack in recent years, with neighbouring Germany buying secret data from informants to track down tax evaders.

"Elmer's arrest makes it more urgent to examine his banking data and publish them as soon as possible," Assange said.

"Switzerland is putting itself into the spotlight with its actions," he said.

Assange said Switzerland was not the only country involved in the offshore banking structures that were depriving tax authorities worldwide of some $22 billion.

Assange himself is under a form of modified house arrest in England, awaiting an extradition hearing to Sweden for questioning over alleged sex offences that he denies.

WikiLeaks has previously said it plans to release documents relating to a major U.S. bank, believed to be Bank of America.

Tunisia Arrests TV Channel Owner For "Treason"

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia has arrested the owner of a private TV station and his son for "treason" for inciting violence and working for ousted leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's return, the state news agency said Sunday.

"The owner of Hannibal TV (Larbi Nasra), who is a relative of the former president's wife, is using the channel to abort the youth's revolution, spread confusion, incite strife and broadcast false information," a statement citing an authorised source said.

"The aim is to create a constitutional vacuum, ruin stability and take the country into a vortex of violence that will bring back the dictatorship of the former president."

Veteran strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown this month in a popular uprising over poverty, corruption and political repression that stunned Arab and Western governments who had long backed Ben Ali as a bulwark against Islamists.

But since then, Tunis and other cities have seen daily protests against an interim government containing many loyalists from Ben Ali's era, including prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, as well as some opposition politicians.

Former members of Ben Ali's RCD ruling party retain key ministries, notably interior, defence and foreign affairs.

Saleh Attia, a columnist from the daily Assabah newspaper, voiced surprise over Nasra's arrest, saying he was not viewed as a regime insider and it was a sign the protests had begun to unnerve the authorities, which were divided over how to proceed.

"This is to stop the street that wants the government to fall. They are frightened of these protests which have spread to other provinces and now have reached the prime minister's office," he said.

STATION BACK ON AIR

The protests, which have not let up, have so far been peaceful with police Saturday and Sunday allowing protesters to break through barricades placed at the prime minister's compound.

The army led the way in an effort to restore order after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, winning praise on Tunisian state television. The authorities said Ben Ali had left behind militias that clashed with the army, which has imposed an ongoing night curfew.

The Tunisian news agency said Nasra and his son had been arrested "to secure the nation's safety and the revolution's success."

"They will be transferred to the justice system for prosecution over high treason and conspiracy against the country," the agency said.

Lutfi Salami, spokesman for the channel set up in 2005, declined to comment on the charges but said the state broadcasting authorities had stopped the station's broadcast.

The station was back on the air within hours, however. Tunisian state TV said opposition cabinet minister Nejib Chebbi had intervened to ensure that Hannibal TV resumed broadcasting, and apologised on behalf of the government for the disruption.

Like Tunisian state television, Hannibal has carried discussion shows about the uprising, ongoing demonstrations and future of the transitional government.

Ghannouchi defended himself against criticisms in an interview on state TV Friday.

"There is a struggle between security, military and political circles and I also suspect there is international pressure to stop things getting out of hand," Attia said.

Although Nasra was a relative of Leila Trabelsi, Ben Ali's wife, he was not considered a regime insider, he added. "Why do they suddenly say this now?" he said.

Sihem Bensedrine, a rights activist harassed by Ben Ali's regime, said the move against the station was worrying.

"This is against freedom of expression. I fear now that the remains of the former regime have started a move against this revolution," she said.

Dubai Opens 'World's Highest' Restaurant

 DUBAI (AFP) - Dubai opened on Sunday a restaurant 422 metres (1,350 feet) up in the sky on the 122nd floor of the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, its developers said.

Atmosphere in Dubai's 828-metre (2,716.5-feet) building is "one of the finest luxury dining and lounge experiences in the world," said Emaar Hospitality Group, an arm of giant property developer Emaar.

At two levels below the tower's observation deck, the "world's highest restaurant" can host "over 210 guests and features a spacious arrival lobby, a main dining floor, private dining rooms and display cooking stations."

In addition to apartments, offices and Italian designer Giorgio Armani's signature hotel, the building has an observation deck on the 124th floor, open to visitors at an entrance fee of at least 100 dirhams (27 dollars) per adult.

Emaar spent 1.5 billion dollars on the tower, named after United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan who came to the aid of Dubai, hit by the global financial crisis.
Oil-rich Abu Dhabi extended a lifeline of 10 billion dollars, on top of the same amount from the UAE central bank, to bail out Dubai's heavily-indebted state firms in 2009.

Assange named Un-Australian of the Year 2011

Julian Assange is nothing but a dobber in disguise, says a men's magazine which has named him Un-Australian of the Year.

Zoo Weekly for the past five years has been putting together a list of the year's most disappointing Aussies ahead of Australia Day on January 26.

Mr Assange, founder of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, has taken the dubious title in 2011 for publicly releasing thousands of classified diplomatic cables - or "dobbing".

The magazine rates Prime Minister Julia Gillard No.2 for, it says, stabbing her predecessor Kevin Rudd in the back to get a promotion.

Crying about it to the media - or "being a giant wuss" - earned Mr Rudd fifth place on the list, which put cricketing legend Shane Warne in ninth spot for "delivering a pants-googly" to English model-actress Liz Hurley instead of rescuing Australia's ailing Ashes campaign.

Other sporting personalities Zoo deemed to be showing disturbingly Un-Australian qualities included Canberra Raiders rugby league star Joel Monaghan and AFL player Brendan Fevola.

"By releasing a nude photo of his former fling Lara Bingle to a women's gossip mag, the Brisbane Lions goose caused the break-up of Aussie golden couple Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke," the magazine wrote about 14th-ranked Fevola.

"(This) caused Clarke to become a rubbish cricketer, and caused the demise of the national cricket team, and caused the value of the dollar to fall, and caused drought in Africa and caused the continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."