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Morning Edition. Fri 31 Dec 2010
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Top Stories	More Top Stories >
Gillard to inspect Queensland disaster zone Prime Minister Julia Gillard is due to inspect flood damage in Queensland towns today after Premier Anna Bligh declared the state was facing "one of its toughest hours". Catastrophic fire warning in southern states Emergency services in South Australia and Victoria are bracing themselves for the worst as potentially dangerous weather conditions threaten to spark bushfires. Kidney swap to free jailed sisters Two American sisters convicted of armed robbery will be released from prison on the condition that one donates a kidney to the other. Australian drug fugitive granted bail A court in the Turkish half of Cyprus has granted bail to Australian fugitive Hakan Ayik. Video shows cop's near-miss with car New South Wales police have released footage of a sleepy motorist narrowly escaping a head-on crash with a police car when she drifts to the wrong side of the road.
The Drum	More from The Drum >
Coming to terms with the information age The one thing we've all gleaned from 2010 is both simple and a bit dizzying: trust no one. Welcome to the middle of the Information Age. Welcome to the world that we all wanted. In January all was sweetness and light and unicorns and rainbows. But in this last week of December we all feel like the shocked survivors of a car smash. It's all a bit too sudden. We haven't had time to process what has just happened, how it has changed everything in our lives. We need the opportunity to pass through the five stages of grieving, starting with denial - where we are just now. It's hip to be square The '80s belonged to bad hair and new romantics, the '90s to grunge and heroin chic. As another decade bites the dust, we should give this one to the nerds. The New Thrift: are we over shopping? We live in interesting times. Despite the retailers wishing and hoping, Christmas Eve and Boxing Day sales were significantly down on previous years. The most recent results suggest the slow retail environment that began in June this year, carried through all the way to Christmas Eve and Boxing Day sales. My suspicion is that what we are seeing is a levelling of consumption and growth. For the time being, we are in a state of "consumption satiation". Turkey takes the talent The national gene-pool must have been in a diabolical state before the post-war migration boom, judging by the collective output of fifth-generation Australians on the world's two biggest stages: music and soccer. In music, nearly all our biggest names - from the Easybeats and AC/DC through to the Avalanches - have a strong migrant story. It's no different in football. The tug-of-war over Eran Gulum has been lost to Turkey. Content yourself with the likes of Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, Jason Culina and Sasa Ognenovski instead. How Twitter saved the day There aren't many fairy stories that start at 6pm on a Tuesday evening in Sydney but this is a new fable, a truly modern tale for the Twitter and social media non-believers. For most people embracing Twitter, it's become a village noticeboard, an online office water-cooler and a constant news service all in one. The moral of this fairytale is about how Twitter can be a pretty magical place if you just give it a chance.
World	More World Stories >
Giant snowball fight cancelled in Berlin Organisers of a giant New Year's snowball fight in Germany have been forced to call it off after around 8,000 people signed up online for the next battle. Queen becomes a great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth has become a great-grandmother for the first time after the wife of her grandson Peter Phillips gave birth to a baby girl, Buckingham Palace said. Kidney swap to free jailed sisters Two American sisters convicted of armed robbery will be released from prison on the condition that one donates a kidney to the other.
Science & Technology	More Science & Technology Stories >
Online Christmas spending up 13pc in US A survey shows Americans have clicked up a record $30 billion in online holiday sales in 2010, a jump of 13 per cent from a year ago. Argentine military to record UFO sightings The Argentine air force has created a commission to record and investigate reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the country's airspace. How Twitter saved the day There aren't many fairy stories that start at 6pm on a Tuesday evening in Sydney.
Environment	More Environment Stories >
Continuing rain a boon for cattlemen The Bureau of Meteorology's prediction that above-average rainfall will continue until at least March is a New Year's bonus for pastoralists across the not-so Red Centre. Floods restrict access to Nitmiluk National Park Rain has closed parts of Nitmiluk National Park to visitors. Highlands landowners can't stop coal drilling Landowners in the New South Wales Southern Highlands have no right to stop a coal mining company carrying out exploration drilling on their properties.
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