News: Australians' credit card debt the highest ever

Australians rack up highest credit card debt ever

How much is it then? A whopping $50 billion, according to figures released by the Reserve Bank. And that’s not including whatever we spent over the Christmas period. Scott Murdoch writes in The Australian: “The RBA numbers show that there are more than 15 million credit card accounts in Australia up from 14.7 million just one year ago. During November, consumers spent $21.1 billion in 147 million individual transactions. Australians paid $21.4 billion off their debt but there was still $36.2 billion accruing interest.”

Pippa Middleton one of the most photographed

The Leveson media inquiry into the ethics of the press in Britain has heard about the nature of privacy invasion of its biggest celebrities and names. The picture editor of The Daily Mail Paul Silva said he estimated Ms Middleton had roughly eight to nine photographers follow her every move each day and they produced between 300 and 400 photos of her each day, most of which would cross his desk. The inquiry was set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that saw the closure of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World and a wide-ranging investigation of other newspaper titles in the country.

Jennifer Aniston has the body ‘we all want’

If by ‘we’ they mean ‘people who book cosmetic surgery in Hollywood’. Jen topped the annual list Hollywood’s Hottest Looks survey compiled by Beverly Hills doctors Richard Fleming and Toby Mayer. But it wasn’t all about her. Women wanted to have Angelina Jolie’s lips, Taylor Swift’s hair and Penelope Cruz’s eyes. It’s all a little creepy, really. And for anyone interested, men most desired to look like Chris Hemsworth closely followed by Justin Timberlake, in the body department.

More sex claims hit the Australian Defence Force

Last April in Brisbane a female soldier reported seeing a camera placed under her shower cubicle. The incident came just days after the Skype sex scandal which had become a media storm. The Defence briefing document, released under freedom of information laws to Channel 7 said: ”[The] matter is considered highly sensitive given ongoing media attention to the case of female ADFA cadet. The media are unaware of this incident.” More than 350 pages of previously classified information was released and included cases of rape, child pornography and ‘inappropriate relationships’. But there’s no suggestion of a cover-up. It appears in each case of illegal activity, Defence referred the matters to police.

The SMH reported: “As recently as September, an air force member was arrested and charged with seven counts of indecent assaults on a minor. The case is still before the courts. There is also an allegation a 3RAR soldier had a 15- and a 17-year-old living in Holsworthy Barracks for two weeks. Defence confirmed in a statement two of its members had been disciplined over the incident. Also in September, an army member allegedly sexually assaulted a female member of his unit at Holsworthy. The matter was referred to NSW Police. A year earlier, a female student at the Defence Force School of Signals reported she had been sexually assaulted at a Melbourne hotel by a fellow student. The matter was also referred to police.”

Cyclone Heidi to hit Western Australia coast soon

Category Two cyclone Heidi will strike the Pilbara region in the early hours of the morning. The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting destructive winds with gusts of up to 140 kilometres per hour, up to 250 millimetres of rain and dangerous storm tides.

Cancer drug to run-out in Australia

The US manufacturers of a top cancer drug called Doxil said it will be running at a shortage until the last quarter of this year while it undertakes ‘preventative maintenance’ on its machines. There is only one manufacturer in Australia which says it will not be able to keep up with demand. The move will affect approximately 500 Australians. The drug is used as a sort of last resort for cancer patients whose cancer has come back and for whom other treatments are no longer an option. Other, cheaper, drugs have more side effects like mouth ulcers, nausea and vomiting.