Nomad bikies arrested in Sydney

Gang Squad police arrested 13 Nomad bikies and closed down their Wetherill Park clubhouse in Sydney last night.

"The arrests have been made under legislation that makes it an offence for a person to associate with two or more convicted offenders" Gang Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Deborah Wallace said.

"My message is that if further offences are detected under these laws, my detectives will continue to enforce the legislation to the fullest extent by arresting and charging those involved" she said.

Gang squad boss Debbie Wallace

Michael Clarke on collision course with Cricket Australia as his teammates move on.

By Andrew Webster

Andrew Webster is the Chief Sports Writer of The Sydney Morning Herald

In the lead-up to the Sydney Test, the Australian team enjoyed a barbecue at the luxury South Coogee home of opening batsman Dave Warner. The six-bedroom, five-bathroom, three-level mansion reportedly cost Warner and his fiancee Candice Falzon $6.5 million last year. It was made famous two years earlier as the set for the UK reality TV show Geordie Shore.

On the surface, there is nothing exceptional about the Australian side's pre-match get-together, save for the person who wasn't there.  That Michael Clarke bizarrely didn't attend is a glimpse into the hurricane that is forming ahead of the World Cup and onwards to July to an Ashes defence on English soil.

How the final chapter of Clarke's career plays out will make Geordie Shore as eventful as Romper Room. Almost everyone involved in Australian cricket knows about it, is talking about it, and wonders where it will all end.

Probably in tears.

Clarke is at war with his superiors. And, as much as he belligerently holds onto the idea of playing for his country again, it is also clear his teammates have moved on without him.

In Steve Smith they trust. It's that simple.

Former South African captain Graeme Smith probably doesn't know how close to the bone he cut when he said this last week: "Michael has been an outstanding captain, but is more of an abrasive personality. It will be interesting to see now that they have been under Smith for the last few months and if Michael moves back into that space, how then that shifts the personality of the team."

There are two issues at play here: Clarke's broken relationship with Cricket Australia management and his relationship with his teammates.

The captain has been on a collision course for months with almost every level of the Cricket Australia hierarchy, from chief executive James Sutherland to high-performance manager Pat Howard to chairman of selectors Rod Marsh to coach Darren Lehmann. Some officials complain he's refused to return their phone calls.

Part of the tension is about team selections. When Queensland batsman Joe Burns was selected for the Boxing Day Test, Clarke was said to be angry about not being consulted.

Yet much of the animosity concerns his dodgy hamstrings and lower back problems.

There's a case for being the ultimate competitor, doing everything possible to get on to the field. On this score, Clarke has to be admired. There's another case for being an unwanted distraction for the team.

It was going to come to a head on November 25 as Clarke vaingloriously told anyone who would listen of his desire to play in the first Test against India at the Gabba.

The day before, he publicly contradicted Marsh about playing in a two-day warm-up match in Adelaide to prove his fitness.

Sutherland and others had enough of it. They were going to rule him out of the Test side and select Phillip Hughes.

Then everything changed.

Later that day, a Sean Abbott bouncer felled Hughes at the SCG and two days later the batsman's life support was turned off.

Clarke, his teammates and officials were united in grief. The skipper was the definitive leader as they laid their friend to rest in his home town of Macksville.

Suddenly, Cricket Australia suits changed their tune. They wanted their inspirational captain in the side for the rescheduled Test in Adelaide, where he scored a ton and tore a hammy.

Now, though, the issue of Clarke's future has flared again.

Privately, he is furious about selectors setting a deadline of February 21 — the second pool match against Bangladesh — to prove his fitness for the World Cup after hamstring surgery.

An eternal optimist and tireless when it comes to preparation, Clarke is adamant he will be fit – although most behind the scenes tell you he is a slim prospect at best.

They predict he won't recover in time, and that's when the hurricane will hit. Clarke's camp says he had initially been given until March 4 — the fourth pool match against Afghanistan — to prove his fitness.

There has either been a major miscommunication or Cricket Australia is setting up its own captain to fail.

If Clarke is ruled out, expect fireworks. At the very least, he will want to play Sheffield Shield cricket for NSW to prove a point. The Blues are already saying they don't want to be caught in the middle of the fight.

Meanwhile, in the Australian dressing-room, those in baggy greens are humming along quite nicely. They have seen life without the Clarke sideshow and they quite like it.

Smith is a laid-back character who carries a form guide in his back pocket. Clarke has often been described as a player who would rather spend time with celebrity mates.

And Clarke has no greater celebrity mate than Shane Warne. It was never more obvious how close the pair are than during their stint together in the Channel Nine commentary box.

During the Brisbane Test, Clarke was effectively commentating on the match via his own Twitter feed. He also retweeted a post from a fan who demanded he be part of the Nine commentary team while injured.

Like magic, Clarke was there in the middle of the MCG on Boxing Day, with a Nine microphone in hand.

For Nine, securing Clarke for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests was a coup. For Clarke, joining the commentary team of past players while still playing was an air swing.

He might've been insightful, he might've shown where his future will be in retirement, but many of his teammates were far from impressed as their captain openly discussed strategies, technique and what players were thinking and should be doing in the centre.

It was dangerous territory for a current captain to traverse. For instance, each time he passed comment on Shane Watson it was nearly impossible not to recall the ugly fallout between the pair in India in 2013.

Clarke's teammates were also said to be less pleased with his appearance in the dressing-room during those Tests.

It's been argued that Clarke was there for rehab purposes. Others say his presence was odd and a distraction.

How does Clarke return to a successful side? If at all?

He has been a polemic figure inside and outside the dressing-room almost every step of his undulant career. A platoon of former players often ask whether Clarke puts himself ahead of the baggy green.

Doubtless, he will see this column as an attack. It is not.

His decency and selflessness were there for all to see when Hughes died.

Yet everywhere you stepped this summer, the topic of conversation among some of the highest echelons of Australian cricket hasn't been about Warner's sparkling form, or Smith's captaincy, or whether Warney is single or not.

It was about Clarke and the hurricane looming on the horizon.

For a player who has played more than 100 Tests, scored more than 8000 runs, and captained Australia to an unforgettable Ashes victory, you would ideally hope his career finishes in dignity.

From Ferraris to being grabbed by Simon Katich by the throat at the SCG to Bingle-gate to Homework-gate to this latest imbroglio, it seems certain to end as it has always been.

Like an episode of Geordie Shore, probably in tears.

Tony Abbott's death wish

Tony Abbott made his own death wish when he decided not to consult with anyone, (except his chief of staff) about bestowing a knighthood on Prince Phillip.  

Conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch tweeted that the PM should sack Peta Credlin and most of  the LNP team agree with him. MPs have complained bitterly about her condescending, controlling manner in dealing with them and even John Howard has been made aware of the trouble she has caused.  She has a list of enemies that grows longer every day and rules with an iron fist.

Rupert went further, he said that if Tony Abbott won't sack her, he called on Ms Credlin to do her patriotic duty and resign for the good of the party.

But yesterday the PM said that it was he alone who made the knighthood decision and he did not consult Ms Credlin.  The question now is - do we believe him?

In December, when unhappy MPs voiced their displeasure about how Ms Credlin ran the PMs office, Mr Abbott accused them of being misogynistic.  "Do you really think my chief of staff would be under this kind of criticism if her name was Peter instead of Peta?"

Rupert Murdoch is convinced Credlin is to blame and behind the knighthood decision, even though privately she would like to see Australia cut ties with England and become a republic.

There are rumblings in the backbench with several MPs believing his ability to lead is now irrecoverable.

Yesterday the PM conceded the public had not reacted well to the appointment of Prince Phillip but he stood by his decision, while promising greater consultation for future appointments.

To me, that statement simply reeks of his arrogance - he vehemently believes that as 'captain' of the ship, he can, and will do whatever he likes, something we've learned about his character that we didn't know before.

If he doesn't move Peta Credlin along, it will be just another nail in his coffin.

Bondi house of horrors to be auctioned

After years of having to put up with the Bondi house of horrors, neighbours who live in Boonara Avenue, are getting ready to celebrate. Real estate agent Raine & Horne, Double Bay, say the property could go for up to $2 million.

The house is being marketed as 'one of the suburb's most desirable streets', and it is - walking distance to Bondi Beach.

The block isn't very big, only 550 square metres, but it's big enough to build your dream home, according to the real estate advertisement.

Waverley Council have cleaned up the property 15 times in 25 years which cost them $350,000 but every time they cleaned it up, within a month, the rubbish was back again, just as bad as ever. 

The owners, Mrs Bobolas and her two daughters Elena and Liana guard their rubbish as if it were gold and have tied the council up in courts for years.  But last year it finally came to an end.  

The Land and Environment Court ordered the owners to pay the cost of every cleanup - around $350,000 - and when they refused, the council sent the Sheriff in.

The NSW Sheriff's office was instructed to recover $180,000 for cleanup and legal fees owed to the council and later scheduled an auction for the sale of the property.

Bobolas sisters

Now the neighbours will finally get the break they have waited so long for and the vermin will have to find another home.

Japan still lying about WW2

Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister

It's hard to believe that after all this time, Japan is still in denial about their behaviour in WW2.

Japan has asked a US publisher, McGraw-Hill, to "correct" a school textbook that talks about women who were forced to work in military brothels as "comfort women."

They said "grave errors and descriptions conflict with our nation's stance on the issue of "comfort women."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't agree with mainstream historians who say that around 200,000 women, mainly from Korea but also from China, Taiwan the the Philippines, were forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers in a formalised system of slavery.

The PM would rather the world believe that the women were common prostitutes, not worthy of concern.

McGraw-Hill Education confirmed they had been approached to change the description of 'comfort women' in one of their publications but said "Scholars are aligned behind the historical fact of 'comfort women' and we unequivocally stand behind the writing, research and presentation of our authors."

In the 1990s, a series of articles were written about a former Japanese soldier who claimed he was involved in rounding up Korean women to work in brothels.  He was quickly labelled a liar but the paper stubbornly refused to withdraw the articles.  That was until last year, when Japan's Liberal Asahi Shimbun finally retracted them.

The right-wing PM was delighted and insisted the paper apologise.

But comfort women isn't Japan's only concern, they want China to change their history books too.

Chinese President Xi Jinping

They have asked that any reference made to the 300,000 Chinese people massacred by Japanese soldiers as they swept through the Chinese city of Nanjing, be obliterated from history.

Chinese President Xi Jinping made the comment in a speech just before Christmas 2014, calling on Tokyo to acknowledge the gravity of its past crimes.  

But Australians old enough to remember know all about Japanese cruelty because of what they did to our soldier in WW2.

Australian war trials were held in 1946 in Morotai, Wewak, Labuan, Rabaul, Darwin, Singapore, Hong Kong and Manus Island. In all, Australia conducted nearly 300 trials in which 924 Japanese servicemen were accused of war crimes.

Accused in Australian court, 1946

Of these, 644 were convicted and 148 sentenced to death by firing squad.  Eleven sentences were commuted.

Sargeant Seiichi Okada, also known as 'doctor death', for his role as medical orderly was sentenced to ten years in Singapore.  The Korean Arai Koei, also known as 'boy bastard', was sentenced to death by hanging for his treatment of prisoners on the Burma side of the railway.

Lieut Seizo Tanaka, executed in 1946 on Morotai, wrote to a family member.

It is decided that I will be shot at 7am on the 6th March.  I am sentenced to death, but not because I did a shameful act, rather I think it was an honour for me...by my culture, I am resigned facing death.

Another dangerous Jihadist let out on bail

Khodr Moustafa Taha

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been told to stay out of court business. The PM said he could understand why people were "aghast" at the decision to grant bail to Khodr Moustafa Taha, who police believe is a seriously dangerous man.

It's alleged that Taha has a history of violence, has threatened police and used social media to support IS.  So why was he granted bail?

Ms Popovic

The Magistrate's name is Jelena Popovic, the same woman who sued Andrew Bolt and won.

Victorian police asked the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) to consider an appeal against her decision but it was denied.

"The director has carefully considered this request for an appeal and has concluded that an appeal pursuant to Section 18A Bail Act 1977 should not be brought" a spokesperson for the office said. 

Well it's time we threw out that law and brought in a new one.

"The matter will return to her on 22 January when the OPP says the question of bail "can be reventilated then if necessary."

The president of the Law Institute of Victoria, Katie Miller, described Mr Abbott's remarks as "unhelpful" reminding us that it is not appropriate for politicians to interfere with the courts.

"We are talking about the integrity of the court system and its processes and magistrates need to make decisions based on the evidence before them and not on political comments that might be made through the media" Ms Miller said.

Integrity of the court system?  She must be joking. You would think that the Sydney siege would give magistrates a clue as to why it's prudent to keep dangerous men locked up.  Yet again, these magistrates have put our lives at risk.

Cartoonist Larry Pickering offered police protection

Queensland journalist and cartoonist Larry Pickering had a visit from the police the other day, concerned that his rants against Isam have put him in danger of an attack.  They offered him protective surveillance after he posted a provocative image of Mohammed on his website after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

"If you run away and hide in a corner, then they've already won" he said.

Taken by surprise when two policemen knocked on his door he said "It seems very strange that two coppers would drive all the way from Brisbane on Sunday night in the pouring rain just to have two hours with me.  

".....they were very nice guys, they weren't trying to stop me from doing anything, they were just saying 'we've got reason to believe that you should be careful' - whatever that means, I don't know."

"They just said, look, if you plan on doing anything provocative again, give us some notice."

Considered by many to be the best cartoonist in the country, Pickering takes no prisoners.  If he thinks the Charlie Hebdo cartoons were crass, take a look at his website, the Pickering Post, and see what he thought about ex PM Julia Gillard.  https://pickeringpost.com/archive/news

The Pickering Post is gaining popularity because it is totally politically incorrect and how he gets away with it is a mystery.  Rumours abound about his past but nobody seems to know the truth.

There was talk of him being involved in a fraudulent investment scheme, not paying his many wives child support and was once a bankrupt which meant there was no point suing him because he was broke.

But as his popularity grows and his vicious rants against Islam continue, Larry had better watch his back.

Sydney hostage bravery awards

The Reverend Fred Nile has said out loud what some men were thinking during the Sydney siege - why didn't one of the men jump him? Easy for them to say, you think, they weren't there, but do they really deserve a bravery award for simply being held hostage by Man Haron Manis?

"Usually men try to protect the women but it looks like they were trying to protect their own skin" Mr Nile said on morning television.  "Where were the men?  The only man really there was the man with the gun."

Naturally, this comment caused outrage and he later corrected his mistake.  "I wanted to say he was a cowardly man, I left the word cowardly out, I was certainly not complimenting him."

The leader of the NSW Christian Democratic party thinks the only two people who deserve an award are the two who died in the siege - Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson.

Real heroes

Prime Minister Tony Abbott wrote to the Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove to say Mr Johnson and Ms Dawson should be honoured with posthumous bravery awards and that "proper consideration" should be given to the actions of others involved, including other hostages and police.

"There may well be other significant acts by surviving hostages, police and others involved who are worthy of recognition" Rev Nile wrote.

But on Tuesday he said on Sydney radio "Obviously, they were wanting to escape and save their lives but normally bravery awards are given for an act of bravery, somebody actually does something, and they haven't done anything."

Were the male hostages who managed to get out told that if they tried to escape, the others would be killed?  ".......that's what happened in Paris, four hostages were shot" he said.

Maybe they could have done something more to protect the women but if you are being held at gunpoint by a mad Muslim with a bomb strapped to his back and a rifle pointed at you, I would imagine it's every man for himself.

"Bravery awards are actually medals and they are usually very strict.  If you devalue them, you are taking it away from others who really deserve them" he said. 

The Reverend Fred Nile has been a controversial figure for years. Among other things, he wants to ban the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, ban target shooting in schools and force women to view an ultrasound of their baby before they decide to abort.  

But I agree with Fred on this one, giving people bravery awards just because they happened to be held hostage isn't right, unless they put their own life at risk by helping others, as Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson did.

Charlie Hebdo rally couldn't escape politics

Why would a Jewish newspaper digitally remove images of female politicians from the iconic march through Paris?  It's pretty obvious - they don't believe women should hold any office of power.

I'ts not a view held by the majority in Israel but is the work of an ultra-conservative Jewish newspaper called The Announcer.  It excluded the images of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Swiss President Simonetta Sommru.

To say the world is outraged is putting it mildly.  One reader in Israel said "They are telling their community that women have no place in society outside the home, very sad and very disturbing." But it gets worse - the newspaper has even refused to print the names of female members of the Israeli parliament.

Their excuse?  "For reasons of modesty" they said, women should not be seen in the media, period.

Although the Paris rally was a wonderful, spontaneous show of emotion, politics still took a front seat.

French President Francois Hollande asked Benjamin Netanyahu to stay at home because he didn't want the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to overshadow the event.  He also sent the same message to President Mammoud Abbas.  Like Netanyahu, Abbas also agreed not to go.

But on Saturday night, when Netanyahu found out his political opponents would be here, he changed his mind, so Abbas did too and the march was suddenly tainted by politics.

This sorry tale tells us that it's not just the Jihadists who want to return to the dark ages, readers of The Announcer do too.  It was founded by Meir Porush, a former member of the ultra-orthodox United Torah Judaism Party. He recently made a grand show of chaining himself to a podium over the proposed drafting of ultra-conservative Jews into the Armed Forces.

Just another man stuck in the past, refusing to move on.

One Nation is back

A Queensland police officer who bombarded an Aboriginal rights activist with racist taunts is standing for One Nation at the Queensland State election to be held on 31st January.

Senior Constable Leanne Rissman who worked in Townsville, hurled abuse at Geraldton's Joyce Capewell on her Facebook page Boomerang Justice, using the alias Anne T Sharia.

Ms Capewell started Boomerang Justice after 20 years working in the Western Australian prison system and wanted to raise awareness of the high incidence of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Joyce Capewell

On New Year's Day, Constable Rissman referred to indigenous people as 'scum bags' and 'oxygen thieves.'  She reacted to Ms Capewell's derogatory comments about Tony Abbott's indigenous advisory council's plans to tackle the 'death in custody' issue.

"Get off your arse, get a job and start giving something back to your own and the greater community" Constable Rissman allegedly said under the Anne T Sharia alias. "And while you're at it, give your children and dogs a decent existence as well, instead of starving and abusing them." 

"Everything you have is because of the white man, if you hate it so much, go back to the Aboriginal empire that existed before we came and saw you all sitting in the dirt rubbing sticks together while Rome was being built, China built the magnificent great wall, and the English, Spanish and Dutch traded and built empires."

After a police investigation, Officer Rissman was reprimanded but not sacked.  She had to undergo training programs that would give her a better understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

culture.

Senior Constable Rissman

Pauline Hanson, the leader of One Nation has recently returned to politics.  She was the lady who hit the front pages when she made her maiden speech in Parliament and warned that unless something was done to cut back on immigration, Australia would be 'overrun by Asians.'

The conservative government of the day saw to it that Hanson must be punished for her racist views on Asians, Muslims and Aboriginals and went about planning how to destroy her.  And they did it in spades - she was charged with fraud and sentenced to three years but after serving 11 weeks, the charge was overturned and she was released.  

But Pauline won't comment on Constable Rissman's past indiscretions, even though there is another investigation hanging over her head. The police officer is also under investigation for not complying with police standards in relation to the bashing death of an indigenous woman Adelaide Riversleigh who was allegedly attacked by her partner.

So the Queensland election is going to be very interesting because it can't be denied that many Aussies agreed with everything Pauline Hanson once said.

And she comes back into politics at a crucial time in history - right after the Sydney and French sieges involving Muslim terrorists and her anti-Islamic views will be popular with many. 

So we await the outcome of the election with interest.

Myuran Sukumaran's death sentence upheld

Ring leader of the Bali 9, Myuran Sukamaran, has lost his last hope of escaping the death penalty for trying to smuggle heroin to Australia in 2005.  After a trial, he was sentenced to execution by firing squad on 14 February 2006 by the Denpasar District Court.

It was hoped that the newly elected Indonesian president Joko Widodo would be sympathic to human rights, but he wasn't impressed by those who said he had been completely rehabilitated.  "Fifty people in Indonesia die every day because of drugs - they can't be rehabilitated" he said.

But it's clear the president isn't familiar with Myuran's case.  He wasn't aware that he was trying to take 8.2kg of heroin out of Bali, not bringing it in.  No matter, he made it crystal clear that he wants all 64 drug smugglers on death row executed as soon as possible, as a warning to the world.

Meanwhile Myuran is devastated.  "My mum's on the floor in tears" he said.  "My sister is in tears and can't talk, my brother's so shocked he didn't know what to say, is there no such thing as rehabilitation, can't someone change?"

"All the big drug dealers are free and clear to do what they want because they pay people off big time. This is the only thing me and Andrew can't do, is to pay big money.  We were attempting to take drugs out of Indonesia, not importing them. We failed, we stuffed up, we were wrong, we know that, we are paying for that.  Our families are paying for our mistake."

Prime Minister Tony Abbot said "We oppose the death penalty for Australians at home and abroad. We obviously respect the legal system of other countries but where there is an attempt to impose the death penalty, we make the strongest possible diplomatic representations."

Myuran heads a group of 20 prisoners, including those facing execution.  He teaches computer and graphic design courses which give other inmates much needed job skills and once described his arrest as "a blessing."

 "......when I think back over my life, I never really contributed anything but I'm doing all sorts of stuff around here, it feels good, really good."

Myuran with Andrew Chan

Myuran is an Australian citizen who was born in London in 1981 of Sri Lankan parents.  In 1985 the family migrated to Australia and he attended Homebush Boys School in Sydney where he met fellow inmate Andrew Chan, also on death row.  He worked in a mailroom, had clerical jobs and was later employed in the passport office in Sydney.

Gay pastor resists temptation

Pastor Allan Edwards has always been attracted to men but because his religion says it's not allowed, he married a woman who doesn't seem to mind.  Now he and his wife Leanne Edwards are expecting a child.

Allan Edwards is the pastor of Kiski Valley Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania and believes homosexuality is a sin.

He met his wife at a Christian summer camp.  "This is someone who understands graciousness, this is someone who understands acceptance, and this is someone I want to spend as much time with as possible."  He was drawn to her heart and soul he said. "Out of that was birthed our intimate relationship."

His wife knows he's attracted to men.  "There always going to be situations where a partner is sexually attracted to someone else" she said.  Edwards added "Everybody has this experience of wanting something else or beyond what they have, everyone struggles with discontentment." 

"The difference I think, and the blessing Leanne and I have experienced, is that we came into our marriage relationship already knowing and talking about it.  And I think that's a really powerful basis for intimacy."

http://edwardsae1.com/

PEGIDA - Germany's fear of Islamization

PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West,

It seems there are two schools of thought in Germany about the fear of Europe's Islamization group PEGIDA.  Those who see the group as racist and those who don't.

PEGIDA protesters are concerned that many Islamic asylum seekers are really "economic refugees" seeking to take advantage of Germany's generous welfare system, others are worried that the high intake of migrants is just too high for Germany's good.  

Angela Merkel says that Germany's door should be kept wide open to everyone and that PEGIDA organizers had "prejudice, coldness and even hatred in their hearts."

In Cologne, 250 PEGIDA supporters turned up only to be outnumbered 10 to 1 by counter-demonstrators and authorities switched off the lights of the city's cathedral in protest. In Dresden Volkswagon plunged their factory into darkness to show "the company stands for an open, free and democratic society."

But it can't be denied that Germany's immigration policy is a worry to many following the surge in the number of asylum seekers  - 200,000 new arrivals in 2014, which was four times the total for 2012.  And that's why there were 17,000 protesters outside Dresden's opera house just before Christmas and many more protests are being planned for the future.

Euthanasia in Holland

Andrew and Dora

Andre Verhoeven lived in a town south of Amsterdam and worked as a teacher in the nearby secondary school.  He looked forward to retirement at 65 and planned to travel the world with his wife Dora.

But when he was 64, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia, and told there was no cure.  He became paralysed from the neck down and was moved into a care home.  He was so disabled that he had to ring for a nurse to lift a cup of water to his lips.  And when the doctor told him he would remain this way for the rest of his life, he took advantage of the law his country had made available to him.

Andrew told his family he was going to end his life and because the Netherlands had a law in place which made it possible, in January 2013, a GP gave him two injections - one to sedate him and the other to end his life.

Surrounded by his loving family and close friends, 3 seconds after the first injection, Andrew slipped into a coma, and two minutes after the second, he took his final breath.

If he had been an Australian resident, this would not have been possible - euthanasia is illegal in our country and Andrew would have been breaking the law.

So what is the government waiting for?

Three people lost on Mount Cook, New Zealand

Mt Cook

Police believe that three climbers missing on Mount Cook are now deceased and aerial searches over the next few days will be looking for their bodies.

Australian doctor Michael Bishop 53, German climber Johann Viellehner 58 and his son Raphael 27, set out to climb Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain and were last seen roped together as they climbed towards the summit on Monday morning. But today is Thursday and hope is fading.

Dr Bishop

"The men were very lightly clad and weren't really prepared for the conditions" a police spokesman said.  There are no shelter huts in the area and they did not carry an emergency beacon.

An aerial search was started on Wednesday morning but was called off due to bad weather.  Relatives and friends are praying the men have dug themselves into a snow shelter and are still alive.

The two older men were described as experienced mountaineers and Dr Bishop had previously climbed in the Mount Cook area.

Mount Cook, also known by the Maori name of Aoraki, is a popular challenge for mountaineers around the world but it has claimed the lives of 200 people since it was first conquered in 1894.

Dr Michael Bishop has been a medical professional for 27 years. Born and raised in Victoria, he moved to Sydney in 1999 with his wife to attend bible college.  He established the Ascent to Life outreach program in 2011 followed by a church at Doonside, near Blacktown in Sydney's western suburbs.

Dr Bishop and his wife have been running a medical ministry as well as a church planting program in the slums of India and plan to expand into the Pacific Islands.

Today, the Ascent to Life Facebook page is calling for prayers. "Thank God the weather has been good this morning, a helicopter search went out at 6am New Zealand time."

"Please keep on praying for a successful search mission - both ground and aerial - today."

A tragic love story - Mark and Katherine Lavoie

    

Mark and Katherine Lavoie

Dover, New Hampshire.  This is a sad story about true love - a woman with bi-polar and her soulmate.  

Although it's unclear what actually happened on Tuesday morning, Katherine Lavoie's distraught husband Mark rang 911 and she was taken to hospital and hooked up to a respirator, her worse nightmare.

She was so afraid of ending up on life support, she wrote a living will which stated that under no circumstances, should be kept alive by artificial means.  But her doctor said that when a case involves depression, they couldn't honour her wishes.

So 50 year old Mark Lavoie walked into the private room of the Wentworth-Douglass Hospital where she lay in the critical care ward, and shot them both.

He said it was his fault for calling 911.

He didn't have to shoot himself, the courts may have been sympathetic, but his mind was made up.