Posts Tagged 'reports'
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged current Road Traffic Reports, free service, Frixo, information. Frixo specialises, journey, mobile service, news, reports, traffic, traffic news on January 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »
At Frixo we provide current Road Traffic Reports. It's a free service aimed at giving you live traffic news and information. Frixo specialises in traffic news and reports making it easy to use whether you're about to make a journey or out and about using our mobile service.
Source : www.frixo.com
Probe into immigration exam cheating
Posted in Immigration News, tagged $12000, $18000, (IELTS) exam, activity, allegations, Australia's, cheat, cheating, cheating on exams, claims, commonplace, conducts, Corruption, defended, Department of Immigration, detected, engage, English Language Testings System, exam, exams, fraud, fraudulent, high stakes, identity, IDP, IDP Australia, IELTS, immigration, Immigration Department, internal problem, international, investigating., investigation, involved, launch., newspaper, occur., outsourcingf English tests, probe, reports, sold, source, spokeswoman, staff, student service, Students, Sydney, tests, The Sun-Herald on July 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Allegations of cheating by students in immigration exams has seen the launch of a corruption investigation.
Australia's largest international student service, IDP Australia, is investigating possible corruption among its staff after students in Sydney were caught cheating on exams it conducts for the Department of Immigration, The Sun-Herald newspaper reports.
Copies of the May International English Language Testings System (IELTS) exam were sold for between $12,000 and $18,000, one source claims.
"These have been leaking out for months," the source told newspaper.
"It's like a chain of command. It came from the official service who gives it out and takes his cut.
IDP would not confirm how many people had been caught cheating.
"Cheating in IELTS tests is not commonplace," an IDP Australia spokeswoman said.
"'However given the high stakes involved, attempts to cheat or engage in other fraudulent activity such as identity fraud do occur.
"Recently in Australia a number of test takers have been detected in their attempt to cheat in the IELTS test. Whether or not it was an internal problem, we don't know."
IDP is investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, the Immigration Department has defended its outsourcing of English tests, which have been handled by IDP since 1994.
Source : www.ninemsn.com.au
Heavy rain, thunderstorms lash Perth and South-West
Posted in weather, tagged (SES), 100km/h tore, 109km/h., 115km/h, across, Beaufort St, blowing, Bunbury, Busselton, cancelled, Cape Leeuwin, Cape Naturalist, Capel., caused, ceiling, city, City Beach., coastal suburbs, cold fronts, collapsing, Collie, damage to homes, darkness., Doubleview, fallen trees, ferry services, flights, flooding, granny flat, gust of 107km/h, gusts, havoc, Homes, house, isolated, Joondalup, Kwinana ports, midday, minor, Ocean Reef, operations, overnight, parts, perth, perth hills, Perth's international terminal, plunging, port, ports of Fremantle, power, rain., rainfall, recorded, reports, ripping, Riverside Drive., Rockingham, roof off, roofs, rottnest, State, State and Emergency Services, storm, suburbs, suspended, Swan River were lapping around peak hour traffic on the Kwinana Freeway, tearing, travelling, trees, Two Rocks, uprooting, WA, WA Bureau of Meteorology, WA Water Corporation, Walpole, water, weather, weather forecast, wettest day of the year., wild, wind, wind gusts, windows, winds on June 29, 2009| 1 Comment »
WILD weather has caused havoc across Perth, uprooting trees, tearing off roofs and plunging homes into darkness.
Winds travelling at more than 100km/h tore through the city overnight, ripping the roof off a granny flat in Doubleview, collapsing a ceiling in Joondalup and blowing in the windows of a house in City Beach.
More than 17,000 are believed to be without power because of the storm, mostly in the Perth hills.
State and Emergency Services (SES) have recorded 70 calls for help since 7am, with a total of 125 incidents logged since 6pm last night and 240 properties impacted.
Damage has been reported in coastal suburbs from Two Rocks to Rockingham and all SES units in the metropolitan area have been activated with volunteers in Northam called in for backup.
A series of cold fronts have been lashing the city since Friday, with Rottnest, Ocean Reef, Mandurah and Bickley some of the worst hit areas.
Ocean Reef recorded a wind gust of 107km/h and gusts of 115km/h were recorded at Rottnest, where ferry services have been cancelled.
The ports of Fremantle and Kwinana ports have suspended operations until midday.
Across the state, Cape Naturalist and Cape Leeuwin recorded wind gusts of up to 109km/h. There have been reports of fallen trees and minor damage to homes in Bunbury, Busselton and Capel.
The WA Bureau of Meteorology says it is the wettest day of the year.
Flights from Perth's international terminal are running half an hour behind schedule, and Main Roads are urging motorists to slow down and take care in the inclement weather.
Near the city, waves from the Swan River were lapping around peak hour traffic on the Kwinana Freeway this morning, while Riverside Drive and parts of Beaufort St have isolated flooding.
Traffic lights are out on the intersection of Great Eastern Highway and Stoneville Rd in Mundaring and at the junction of Kalamunda Rd and Gooseberry Hill Rd.
WA Bureau of Meteorology climate information officer John Relf says 23.2mm of rain has fallen overnight taking Perth much closer to the 177mm average with 147.8mm of rain recorded this month.
"We have exceeded last year's June rainfall of 142mm," he said.
Heavy rain has been reported from Collie to Walpole.
WA Water Corporation spokeswoman Clare Lugar says dams should have now started benefiting from the all rainfall.
"Up until Friday the streams hadn't started to flow," Ms Lugar said. "But we are expecting it to have begun flowing over the weekend."
The wild weather is expected to ease up later tonight with fine weather forecast by Thursday.
Source : www.news.com.au
Flights 'cheaper than a carton of beer'
Posted in ALL news, tagged $22.78, $25.51, account, Adelaide, aggressively, airfares., Airline, ALL news, around, assault, August 4, Australia, available, beer, belts, between, carton, carton of beer, charges, climate, commercial director, cost, costs, current, cut, cut the cost, cut-price, destinations, discount, discount fares, discount flights, Don't buy, Economic, extra, Fares, fly, from $23.33, Gold Coast, holiday, including taxes, Jetstar, King William Travel, less, little, low fare, luggage, manager, March 24., Melbourne, one-way, one-way flight, perth, Platinum Pure Blonde, price, Qantas, reports, rivals, Sandra Cosic, school, school holidays, seats, services, Steve Burns, summer, Sydney, taxes, thanks, The Advertiser, Tiger Airways., tightening, travel, travellers, Tuesday, various, Virgin Blue, Wednesday., weekend on June 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
TRAVELLERS can fly to destinations around Australia for less than the price of carton of beer thanks to cut-price airline Tiger Airways.
As part of its latest discount assault on rivals Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue, Tiger Airways has aggressively cut the cost of some of its airfares.
For a limited time some of Tiger's one-way flights from Sydney to Melbourne cost as little as $25.51, the Gold Coast to Melbourne from $23.33, or Adelaide to Perth costs $22.78, including taxes, The Advertiser reports.
But there is a catch. While there are 30,000 seats available for various destinations, the price is for a one-way flight which must be taken on a Tuesday or a Wednesday between August 4 and March 24.
The discount flights aren't available during the summer school holidays, from December 15 to January 27, or on March 9 and 10.
Tiger Airways says the fares include all fees and taxes, so in essence, it is giving away the seat on the plane.
The fares include up to 7kg of carry-on luggage, but passengers are charged $10 for up to 15kg and $35 for up to 25kg of check-in luggage. The one-way discount fares include Adelaide to Sydney for $28.76 and to Melbourne for $25.14.
"For the price of a couple of movie tickets or a few beers you can travel some of Tiger Airways' most popular routes midweek," Tiger commercial director Steve Burns said.
"While everyone's tightening their belts in the current economic climate, it's nice to know you can still take a short break or get that work-life balance back on track with incredible deals like this."
Comparable airfares from Adelaide to Perth aboard Jetstar during the same period currently cost $79, with Virgin Blue's from $89 and Qantas's from $129.
King William Travel manager Sandra Cosic said people needed to be wary of what they received for a low fare, taking into account extra charges for luggage and other services.
"But there are some great deals out there," she said.
Tiger's 30,000-seat "Just Pay Taxes and Charges" sale is on until midnight tomorrow.
HOW TO PAY FOR YOUR FARE
Don't buy that carton of Platinum Pure Blonde for the weekend. SAVE $37.98.
Instead of heading out for dinner, stay at home and eat in. SAVE $20-$30.
Wait for that new movie to hit the DVD shelves instead of catching it on opening night. SAVE $34.
Give up that manicure. Your nails can wait a little longer. SAVE $40.
Bring instant coffee to work for a week instead of buying two a day. SAVE $35.
Catch public transport to work for a week instead of driving. SAVE $40.
Fire strikes Perth hotel, guests evacuated
Posted in Local News, tagged $300000., 200 guests, ABC, ABC Radio, Adelaide Terrace, arson, arson squad, basement, broke out, collapsed, Damage, estimated, evacuated., FESA spokesman, fire, forced outside, guests, hotel, hotel guests, hotel's, Hundreds, investigating., Local News, midnight., one guest, perth, Perth hotel, radio, reports, smoke, spread, squad, started, stress, the fire, the Good Earth Hotel, this morning, treated, upper levels, WA on June 9, 2009| 1 Comment »
Hundreds of hotel guests were evacuated from a Perth hotel this morning after a fire broke out in the basement.
A FESA spokesman said the fire at the Good Earth Hotel in Adelaide Terrace started just after midnight.
He said about 200 guests were forced outside after smoke began to spread through the hotel's upper levels.
Damage has been estimated at $300,000.
ABC radio reports one guest collapsed and was treated for stress.
The arson squad are investigating.
New Smiths Beach plan ready for council
Posted in Local News, tagged 10-year history, 104 homes, 21ha, 272 tourist units, 50 camping sites, a 60-bed backpacker lodge, build, Busselton shire, Canal Rocks, chairman, coastline, controversial, Council, councillors, debate, developer, development, Environmental Protection Authority, EPA, EPA's rejection, Local News, modified plans, modified proposal, multi-million dollar, new plans released, new proposal., Paul Vogel, planners, plans, previous, project, proposals., rejected, rejecting, release, reports, scandal, Shire of Busselton, smaller, Smiths Beach, southern, spotlight, State Administrative, the Shire of Busselton, today, tourism development, Tribunal, two 50-bed hotels, views, Yallingup on June 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The controversial Smiths Beach tourism development in Yallingup, which has been dogged by scandal in its 10-year history, is set to enter the spotlight again with new plans to be released today.
Shire of Busselton planners will release a report on yet-to-be revealed modified plans for the Smiths Beach project, after rejecting previous proposals.
Councillors will debate the plan next Monday.
The new plan will be released just days before developer Canal Rocks and the Shire of Busselton go before the State Administrative Tribunal on June 11 for a 12-day hearing into the multi-million dollar development.
Canal Rocks wants to build 272 tourist units, 104 homes, two 50-bed hotels, a 60-bed backpacker lodge and about 50 camping sites on 21ha at the southern end of Smiths Beach.
Busselton shire rejected a modified proposal to the plan last December.
The Environmental Protection Authority rejected the project in April and said it would affect views of the coastline.
But EPA chairman Paul Vogel said a smaller development might be acceptable.
Canal Rocks would not comment on the new proposal.
The developer has never commented on the EPA's rejection of its plan.
A remote control can make life easier
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged abbreviations, all controlled from a central location and ready to face the technology, amanda rankin, CCTV, CD, central location, client's budget, company, control, controlled, controls, custom-made, designed, DVD player, environment, fortunately, fully automated, high-tech, home, home wired, homeowner, house, install, integrate properly, integration of technology, intelligent, Intelligent Home, Intelligent Home's director Brenton Morris, latest technology, ntelligent systems, one fabulous remote, one-touch button, Pay TV, personal requirements, products, programing, ready to face, remote control., reports, result, security, sell, skilled professionals, smart wiring, sound, sound scary, supply, team, technology of tomorrow. client's budget and personal requirements, telecommunications and lighting, the DVD player, the end result can be a high-tech home wired for sound, the intercom, the lighting, the telephone, touch of a button, Transform, transform a home, TV, Uncategorized, Western Australian on May 13, 2009| 1 Comment »
Transform your home with the latest technology available through smart wiring, reports amanda rankin.
AS the name suggests, smart wiring is an intelligent integration of technology that can transform a home into a fully automated environment where the homeowner can control everything, with the touch of a button.
For those who have trouble programing the DVD player this may sound scary but fortunately, this one-touch button is on a remote control.
A remote control is specifically for people who don't have the foggiest about electronics and just want to know which button to push, and when.
Intelligent Home is a Western Australian company with a team of skilled professionals who can install these intelligent systems and supply the homeowner with one fabulous remote that controls the lighting, the intercom, the telephone, the DVD player, Pay TV, CD, CCTV and other necessary abbreviations.
"The remotes are the secret to having a good experience with smart wiring," Intelligent Home's director Brenton Morris said.
"We recommend the remotes highly because anybody can use them.
"That's our job at Intelligent Home, to set up these complicated systems and ensure that the end result is something that is easy for everyone to use."
Intelligent Home predominantly deals with trade, and the building companies send the clients in to find out all about smart wiring at the very early stages of the project, usually well before the building process has even started. "We explain smart wiring, which is the data, the television, the Foxtel, the telecommunications and so forth, then we go through security, home theatre, multi-room audio, CCTV, intercom and lighting control, and once we've explained all of that to the client, we sit down and do a design with them," Brenton said.
Depending on the client's budget and personal requirements, the end result can be a high-tech home wired for sound, TV, security, telecommunications and lighting, all controlled from a central location and ready to face the technology of tomorrow.
It sounds fabulous and it is, but what happens when some-thing goes wrong ?
"I've been working in electronics since I was 17 years old and things do mess up," Brenton said.
"We have a service division ready to handle any problems and we send the guys out and they fix the problem.
"We also handpick our electronics and one of the big things we go for is reliability.
"A lot of the products we sell are custom-made and are designed to integrate properly into the house and be reliable."
www.inmycommunity.com.au
The Rudd Government to tighten rules for margin lending
Posted in Local News, Political News, Realestate and Home Loans, tagged 205000 Australians, 458 per cent, accounts, afford, Australia, Australian Financial, buying, collapsed, copy, Corporate Law, debt, destroyers, draft, dropped 40 per cent, equity, external dispute bodies, family home, improvement, interest Government., introducing, Investments Commission, investor, key, last year, legislation, lenders, lending, Living in Perth, Local News, low-cost, main destroyers, major, margin, margin loan., Minister, misled, month., Mr Sherry, national, national laws, new laws, next, Nick Sherry, obligations., parliament, pay., reduce, regime, regulate, regulated, release, reports, risk, Rudd Government, shares, standard, stockmarket, The Australian., today, triggering, wealth on May 12, 2009| Leave a Comment »
THE Rudd Government will give the $21 billion margin lending industry three weeks to digest a proposed overhaul of the regulatory and legislative regime.
The Minister for Corporate Law Nick Sherry will today release a draft copy of the legislation with a view to introducing it into parliament next month.
The legislation includes new national laws to regulate margin lending under a standard national regime, reports The Australian.
Margin lending is not currently regulated in Australia and is considered to have been one of the main destroyers of investor wealth as the stockmarket collapsed last year.
It cost some investors their homes as their margin lending accounts blew up, triggering margin calls many couldn't afford to pay.
Mr Sherry said yesterday taking out equity on a family home was a key area of interest to the Government.
"One area where we have had a high level of concern has been where people have been advised to take equity out of their family home and then to use this debt to leverage into buying shares through a margin loan.
"This double-debt trap, with a home as security, is of serious concern," he said.
"Under our new responsible margin lending laws the lender will be required to assess a person's true loan-to-value ratio
"This means the lender can no longer assume the money brought to the table is not itself debt, a major new improvement" that would reduce the risk of people losing their homes.
Properly geared margin lending, backed by full disclosure, had a place, but the Rudd Government would not tolerate ordinary Australians being misled into grossly inappropriate margin loans that could cost a family everything they owned, including their home, he said.
Under the new laws, lenders will be regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and be required to hold an Australian Financial Services Licence, be members of low-cost external dispute bodies, clearly disclose fees and commissions before lending, and lend under a tailored margin-lending-specific set of responsible lending obligations.
Between June last year and December 30, the number of margin calls received by 205,000 Australians with margin loans increased 458 per cent, as the share market dropped 40 per cent.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/money/story/0,26926,25441887-5015860,00.html