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Another fainting incident on packed Glenelg-Adelaide tram
fainting 昏厥的
A YOUNG woman has fainted on another packed tram thismorning, prompting furious commuters to lash out at those who say theyare "whinging" about the tram cram.
prompting 提醒 commuters 月票旅客
The incident happened about 8.45am as the city-bound tram arrived in Victoria Square.
It follows a series of faintings on the trams earlier this year.
Tell us your experiences on Adelaide's public transport system - fill out the comment box below
Today's incident will add further pressure on the State Government to increase services during peak times.
peak times上班高峰期
Commuters called out for doctors and nurses as the woman was sprawled on the floor, awaiting help.
"Any nurses on board, any doctors?" they urgently called out.
After a minute or so, the woman began feeling better and was able to stand up with the help of a nurse.
The tram was held up for a few minutes while the woman received medical attention.
Regular commuter Robyn Kemp said she was sick of people saying tram commuters were "whinging" all the time.
whinging 嘶叫
"This is just another incident which shows what we have to put up with," she said.
"It's not even cold outside, yet we're packed in here like sardinesand someone faints - I don't think the message is getting through to(transport minister) Pat Conlon."
Another passenger, Ty Geeves, described the conditions on the tram as "very stuffy".
stuffy不通气的
"It seems to be OK when there's not many people on board but as soonas it gets packed like it is now, it's almost unbearable," he said.
"I feel very sorry for the woman and everyone on board because it's not the way people want to start their day.
"It's very disturbing to see something like this and it shouldn't happen."

[ 本帖最后由 jh_hammer 于 2008-10-7 12:26 编辑 ]

TWO Victorians were among 18 people killed when a plane clipped a fence, crash-landed and burst into flames on a steep airstrip near Mt Everest today, airport officials said.
steep airstrip 陡的跑道
The plane's wheels hit a security fence as it came in to land in foggy weather at Lukla's Tenzing-Hillary Airport, a mountain airstrip 60km from Mt Everest in north-eastern Nepal. Australian officials said they had contacted the families of the Australians, who were both from Victoria. Their names have not been released.
The Australian government had also been in touch with Nepalese authorities to offer help "in dealing with this tragic accident," a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said.
Nepalese 尼泊尔
Witness accounts suggest poor weather may have been a factor in the crash, which also killed 12 German tourists, two Nepalese tourists, and two of the plane's three Nepalese crew.
The sole survivor, thought to be the pilot or co-pilot, has been rushed to Kathmandu for treatment.
The doomed flight, operated by Yeti Airlines, had taken off from Kathmandu earlier in the day.
Kathmandu airport general manager Mohan Adhikari said visibility was down to about 400 metres when the plane reached Lukla - just enough to allow the landing to go ahead.
Just 20 metres wide and 550 metres long, the runway perches on a hillside at an angle of about 11 degrees. It sits 2,757 metres above sea level.
The tiny airport is the gateway to Nepal's Everest region, and was renamed earlier this year after Mt Everest's first conquerors, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
conquerors征服者
In clear weather, it handles dozens of flights each day, carrying trekkers and mountaineers. But fast moving weather patterns mean bad weather frequently halts operations.
Adhikari said 18 of the 19 people aboard perished.
"There were 12 Germans and two Australians on the flight," he said.
He said the wheels of the 19-seat Twin Otter had snagged a security fence, causing it to crash land and sparking a fierce fire.
fierce 剧烈的,强烈的
Security staff and local helpers took two hours to put out the fire in the wreckage, said Suraj Kunwar, a local journalist at the airport.
Hundreds of tourists and residents gathered to watch the recovery operation, many in tears.
"Officials at the airport here have said that bad weather was the reason for the crash. There was heavy cloud when the accident occurred," Kunwar said.
Ang Tsering Sherpa, the president of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations, said he was devastated to hear about the accident.
devastated 破坏的,(这里应该翻成遗憾的会比较好)
"In the season there are up to 50 flights per day into Lukla so the pilots are very used to landing there."
Yeti Airlines is a privately-owned domestic airline founded in 1998 that prides itself on running a service to many far-flung destinations across Nepal.
It has previously provided essential transport links to national and international relief teams working in Nepal as well as carrying many tourists.
The tourism trade is a major foreign currency earner for impoverished Nepal and since the end of a civil war in 2006 between the country's Maoists and the government, numbers of foreign visitors have increased.
This year around 500,000 tourists are expected, the highest number since 1999, with many coming to trek in the stunning Himalayan mountains that form Nepal's northern border with Chinese-controlled Tibet.
The Everest Base Camp trek - where tourists fly into Lukla and walk for around two weeks - is one of the most popular routes.

Prisoners refuse to surrender after Port Augusta Prison riot
surrender 放弃让步  riot暴动
RIOTING inmates "fed up" with overcrowding and lockdowns were defiantly refusing to surrender last night after seizing control of a cell block at Port Augusta Prison.
defiantly 挑战
There had been no reports of injuries or escapes but a Correctional Services spokesman confirmed about 46 inmates had taken control of the high-security Bluebush cell block.
Correctional 校正
There were unconfirmed reports late last night that the prisoners had also broken into another prison unit.
News Gallery: Watch the drama unfold About 8pm, two inmates approached the prison gate and surrendered. Earlier, others were seen on the prison roof, banging what appeared to be makeshift weapons and waving their arms.
makeshift 临时的
Police had surrounded the prison and were negotiating with inmates, while a tactical team including STAR Group officers was en route from Adelaide.
negotiating 与什么谈判 tactical team 战术团队
A man claiming to be a prisoner serving a life sentence called The Advertiser from an office phone at the prison last night.
"We are just sick of the way we are being treated," the man said.
He said prisoners were protesting overcrowding at the prison, which had been ongoing for 18 months.
"I'm a life prisoner and I've had two first-time remand prisoners with me in the past two months and it's not fair to them or to me," he said.
"It's really a volatile situation and it's all come to a head."
The man alleged the overcrowding had led to physical and sexual assaults.
alleged 宣称 assaults暴行
He said prisoners had smashed all windows in the prison and damaged property.
"We are hoping to come out with some sort of peaceful resolution," he said. "No-one has been hurt and no-one has been taken hostage."
hostage人质
A witness said about 30 prisoners briefly climbed on a roof early in the evening and waved a placard with either "reason" or "treason" written on it, before climbing down.
placard 招贴 布告
Guards told their union dozens of inmates went on a rampage about 4pm after prisoners in a high-security cell block were refused access to the exercise yard because of a staff shortage.
The officers believed the riot was caused by the wider issue of overcrowding, following a move to place prisoners in the infirmary.
Officers were then redirected from other parts of the jail to cover the infirmary, leading to a shortage of guards in Bluebush.
Public Service Association chief industrial officer Peter Christopher said prisoners had been out of their cells in the units.
"But they haven't been allowed access to the outside exercise area because of a lack of staff who have been redirected to the infirmary," he said.
Late last night, Mr Christopher said he had been told that the group had also broken into the neighbouring Greenbush division, which holds protected prisoners.
"The understanding is that the original 46 out of Bluebush are clearly the source of the problem," he said.
"What will remain to be seen is whether the people from Greenbush join them in this rampage or whether the people from Bluebush actually now cause harm to those prisoners who are within Greenbush."
A Correctional Services spokesman said no demands had yet been made by the prisoners.
"Obviously, our first priority was to make sure all staff were safe but there's no officers involved," he said.
"Correctional Services are now working with police to control the situation. Our emergency response team is involved and this sort of thing is part of their specialist training."
He would not comment on the claims of overcrowding.
Among the prisoners at Port Augusta is notorious pedophile and killer Bevan Spencer von Einem.
The prison attracted intense publicity in July, 2004, when it was revealed inmates were using a hole in a fence to leave the jail to attend parties in Port Augusta before returning with contraband goods, including pornography and cigarettes.
contraband 违禁[品
The last serious riot involving an SA prison was at Yatala Labour Prison in 1985, when inmates seized control of a secure cell block, injuring guards before being forced to surrender.
The PSA has warned for months that a riot could break out because of chronic overcrowding. Up to three prisoners have been put into cells designed to hold single inmates.
The "doubling up" policy has been repeatedly endorsed by the State Government, with Treasurer Kevin Foley recently stating there would be no relaxation with its "pack 'em, stack 'em and rack 'em" approach to prisoners.
Chaplains who visit Port Augusta Prison complained earlier this year that they could not provide services to inmates because overcrowding had become so bad regular lockdowns of the prison were preventing access.

10号出去玩的太HI了停了1天.. 今天补上.

Girls rescued in cliff drama

TWO young girls were trapped on a cliff face at Port Willunga for more than an hour yesterday, screaming hysterically as they clung to the slippery surface.
hysterically 歇斯底里地  clung 紧紧握住  slippery 光滑的
Witness Briony Franklin, who rushed to the scene after her daughter spotted the pair stranded about 10m above the ground, said the girls, aged 12 and 11, had feared for their lives.
"They were pretty hysterical the poor things. One of the girls was screaming 'I'm slipping, I'm slipping'," Mrs Franklin said.
"They had their backs to the cliff, one had a rock to hang on to but the other had her arm twisted around trying to hang on.
"I just didn't know how we were going to rescue them if they fell. "So I kept talking to them, asking them if they had any brothers, telling them that they would be OK and that I could see help coming."
SES crews and police attended the scene just after midday, but faced a tricky rescue effort at the isolated spot, 80m south of the Port Willunga jetty.
tricky 辣手的 isolated 隔离的
"They decided to do the rescue from the top of the cliff," Mrs Franklin said. "They abseiled down and lowered the girls to the ground one at a time."
Mrs Franklin said the girls had been attempting to climb down to the beach when they slipped and slid partway down the cliff face.
slid  slide的过去式, 滑动
"It was very high. It was just so lucky that my daughter and her boyfriend decided to go for a walk. "It's a really isolated spot, they could have been left there waiting for someone to come and slipped and fell."
The pair, who were at the beach alone, did not suffer any injuries and were rescued by 1.30pm.

[ 本帖最后由 jh_hammer 于 2008-10-11 21:08 编辑 ]

Country primary school sex complaints 'dismissed'
THE mother of a student at a country primary school plagued by years of inappropriate sexual behaviour between its pupils has hit out at the lack of action by authorities.
plagued 收到折磨 inappropriate 不适当的  pupils 小学生
As revealed by The Advertiser  yesterday, a country primary school has reported to the Education Department at least 60 incidents of inappropriate sexual behaviour by its students in the past three years.
Among the incidents were boys exposing themselves in class, throwing girls to the ground and simulating sex, pulling down other students' pants and underwear, writing sexually explicit stories and the use of threatening sexual language among students.
simulating 模拟
In one case, a student brought a plastic penis to school and sexually harassed another student.
harassed 厌烦的
The school's plight only became public after the 28-year-old mother complained to her local MP.
The MP used Freedom of Information laws to obtain pages of school incident reports detailing a catalogue of shocking sexual behaviour since 2006.
shocking 令人震惊的
The mother yesterday told The Advertiser  her five-year-old son had only been at the school for a fortnight when he was urinated on twice by another student.
urinated 撒尿
"This same child later on knocked a toilet door off and asked him to touch his penis, and this same child was also asking my son and other children at the school for sex," she said.
"We reported it to the school. The school counsellor then told us she had already been into the reception classroom a couple of times to talk about inappropriate sexual behaviour.
"As parents, we were never told a counsellor had been having sex education talks with our reception-aged children."
The mother said her 11-year-old daughter also had been the victim of violent sexual threats by boys at the school, who had talked of raping her.
victim 收害人  raping 强奸
"Teachers dismissed that as children just learning a new word over the holidays," she said.
dismissed...as 不予考虑
The mother, who has since pulled her son out of the school, said Education Department officials only took her complaints seriously after she told them she had met with her local MP.
University of South Australia child development professor Freda Briggs told ABC radio yesterday that "this is the tip of the iceberg".
the tip of the iceberg一小部分
"I'm getting desperate parents ringing me every other week about this sort of thing," she said.
desperate 绝望的
"We are dealing with teachers ignorance and also ignorance in the department."
Opposition education spokesman David Pisoni yesterday called on Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith to explain what was being done to address the problem.
"The Minister repeatedly refused on ABC radio today to reveal what steps the department had taken to protect children and stop the extraordinary behaviour involving children as young as five," he said.
"It is not good enough for the Minister to say these incidents happen in disadvantaged schools and blame forms of media.
"This is totally inappropriate sexual behaviour and parents want to know what the Minister is doing about it."
But Dr Lomax-Smith accused the Opposition of using children to "score political points".
accused 非难
"I have been assured that the school and district have dealt with the incidents immediately and appropriately when they occur, including advising relevant authorities where necessary," she said.
Education Department chief executive Chris Robinson said swift action had been taken, but he remained "very concerned" by groups of students who were "multiple" offenders.
swift 快速的 offenders.犯罪者
He said some students had been suspended, mandatory reports had been made to child protection authorities and students and parents had been counselled.
Police have not been involved, he said.
==========================================================================================

City workers may pick Lord Mayor under radical vote plan
radical 激进的
THE city's 108,000 workers would get to vote for the Lord Mayor and five councillors in future elections as part of a high-powered plan to transform Adelaide into a "modern-day capital city".
The Advertiser can reveal the state's peak business group and a powerful trade union have formed an unlikely alliance to lobby for legislative changes to the Adelaide City Council's voting system.
alliance 群体  lobby for 游水议员
The plan by Business SA and the Shop and Distributive Allied Employees Association will be tabled officially at this weekend's Labor Party state convention. The business/union alliance hopes the convention will support the plan and then commit the State Government to legislate for change.
Distributive 分配的， 分布的    convention约定,风俗   legislate 制定法律
Giving city workers a vote would increase the number of potential electors in the 2010 city council poll from 22,000 to as many as 130,000.
Adelaide would become the first capital in Australia to allow workers to shape the future of a major city. The business/union alliance states the city council is "continuing to avoid the bold and proactive decisions necessary for the future of the state".
Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said the council "should be elected by the people that they serve, and they must provide for workers and businesses as well as residents".
chief executive 最高管理者
Lord Mayor Michael Harbison said the idea could have merit but argued the present balance was correct because city business owners, along with residents, could already cast a vote in elections.
Mr Vaughan said Business SA joined the union on the issue "in the best interests of South Australia".
"The current structure sees councillors pandering to minority residential interests at the expense of businesses, visitors and those who work in the city daily," he said.
He said SA was a city-state and it was essential "to have a democratically elected council that has the interests of business, workers and residents on an equal footing".
democratically 民主的
Union secretary Peter Malinauskas said "just because city workers don't push green wheelie bins doesn't mean they shouldn't have a say".
"People who work within the city need to utilise the council's services just as much as anyone else," he told The Advertiser.
In last year's council election, only 6010 votes were cast in the Lord Mayoral contest, in which Mr Harbison was returned with a margin of 127 votes.
Mr Malinauskas said the city was "the commercial heartland of this state and the only thing that makes it function are the 108,000 workers".
"We think the idea is good in principle and it makes perfect sense," he said.
As part of the plan, CBD workers would vote for the Lord Mayor and five area councillors but not for the six ward councillors.
Only workers aged over 18 would be eligible to vote and the plan was relevant only to the city council, not other metropolitan councils.
Part of the alliance's position paper states:
IT is not just the business community that has become disillusioned by the failure of the council to enhance the city as a place to do business.
disillusioned 觉醒
THE council fails to meet its ongoing challenges or enhance the role of the CBD and, consequently, councillors must stop pandering to sectional and ward-driven agendas.
agendas备忘录
THE electoral structure and voting arrangements give residents undue control over issues that affect a much broader electorate than just residential and, therefore, the system must be changed.
BUSINESS and those who work in the city have long suffered from minority residential interests conflicting with the growth of the CBD.
THERE must be no stalling in helping to drive Adelaide forward into a modern-day capital city.
Mr Harbison said it was "important for workers to be represented". "We think the balance is probably about right now because just over half of voters in the electorate are in business," he said.
"Unfortunately, we offer that opportunity to them but the lowest voter turnout comes from those same people. Obviously, we would like to see more participation from this area in the election."
participation 参与者
Making voting compulsory was another option being considered to increase participation, Mr Harbison said.
Local Government Minister Gail Gago said she would "be interested to listen to the debate" at the convention. "I respect the party's democratic process and will wait until after that to comment."

MPs sink push to replace Mike Rann with Kevin Foley

FULL REPORT: SENIOR Labor MPs have headed off a leadership push against Premier Mike Rann – a move that was aimed at installing Treasurer Kevin Foley as leader.
It is understood Mr Rann and Mr Foley had a meeting on Thursday morning to discuss Mr Foley's future. However, when most Labor MPs became aware of the move they distanced themselves from it. The Advertiser has been told key Left faction figure Infrastructure Minister Patrick Conlon counselled Mr Foley against any moves to replace the Premier.
Infrastructure 基础设施
Mr Foley, who was in Melbourne yesterday for a series of meetings with industry leaders, told The Advertiser he had no comment.
When asked if Mr Conlon had counselled him not to challenge, he said: "No comment."
counselled 劝告
Mr Rann said he would "lead the Government and the Labor Party to the next election and beyond".
Those close to the Treasurer confirmed Mr Foley met the Premier but there was no intention of a challenge at this point. They described his role following the meeting as that of a "loyal deputy".
Treasurer 会计  deputy 代理人
Another Labor source described it as "a sounding-out meeting", not a push. Leadership speculation followed growing unrest in party ranks brought to a head by the Cabinet reshuffle in June, which saw no changes to the Rann ministry.
The issue became public after a long Labor Party dinner at Parliament House on Wednesday night where, according to sources, MPs became "tired and emotional" and talked about the party's chances at the 2010 election.
reshuffle 重组
The Left immediately rejected any move against Mr Rann with one senior source saying yesterday those behind the push for Mr Foley had shown "appalling political strategy".
appalling 令人震惊的
"Frustration within the Right is at an all-time high," the source said.
Disquiet in party ranks has been growing since Mr Rann's reshuffle, originally predicted to be "substantial", saw no changes in personnel.
Mr Rann remains the most popular Labor Party state leader in Australia – in the Advertiser poll in September he scored an approval rating of 77 per cent compared with 62 per cent for the Opposition Leader, Martin Hamilton-Smith.
A Labor MP who did not want to be named said there was no move to get rid of Mr Rann. "People in the party are angry about the reshuffle which wasn't, but they still see the Premier as the best chance of winning the next election," the MP said.
Other Labor sources said the reshuffle was the underlying reason for the growing discontent.
discontent不满意的
"There are some backbenchers who can see they will not be in the ministry before the election and also are worried that Labor might lose," another source said.
In other developments:
UNION sources said there was no doubt while the Right might be upset with the Premier, the Left was not going to get involved in any moves against him.
INTENSE work has been going on behind the scenes involving the unions to try to hose down any backlash against the Government at today's state ALP Convention.
There was a series of meetings this week involving senior union officials from the Left and Right with Industrial Relations Minister Paul Caica and Mineral Resources Development Minister Paul Holloway.
The party wants to ensure the convention does not erupt into a brawl over sensitive issues such as workers' compensation – with the changes to WorkCover laws earlier this year still a major source of bitterness in the union movement.
convention 约定  erupt into爆发  brawl 吵架 compensation 补偿
A senior source from the Left blamed all the problems on the Right, saying the Left was a "steadying influence" on the party.
"There is no hope of Rann being dumped and the Left certainly see him as the best hope of winning the next election," the source said.
"The only thing that can prevent us winning is internal disruption. There would be laughter in the ranks if Rann was replaced by Foley."
disruption 破裂

[ 本帖最后由 jh_hammer 于 2008-10-18 23:42 编辑 ]

Mike Rann calls leadership MPs, silly and emotional

PREMIER Mike Rann has dismissed talk of an attempt to overthrow his leadership as silliness.
dismissed 解雇
Mr Rann and MPs at yesterday's state ALP conference sought to hose downspeculation of a challenge by Treasurer Kevin Foley, which flared after an ALP dinner on Wednesday night."I think what happened on Wednesday night was there was a bit of silliness," said Mr Rann. "A few people got a bit tired and emotionaland a few people had some regrets the next morning."
regrets 后悔
But the political intrigue deepened when Mr Foley skipped yesterday's party conference at Glenelg. And Mr Rann received a bodyblow when a union-launched motion against his controversial WorkCoverreforms was passed by the conference.
conference会议
However, the Premier remained on the front foot. In an interview with the Sunday Mail yesterday, Mr Rann derided the backbench unrest.
derided 嘲弄  unrest不安
He also hinted the turmoil had started with an ambitious and disgruntled minority.
turmoil 骚动  disgruntled 不满意的  minority少数派
"Ultimately this was about a few individual ambitions," said Mr Rann.
Several Labor MPs speculated to the Sunday Mail that duringa meeting between Mr Rann and Mr Foley on Thursday the prospect of aKirribilli House-type deal – similar to the one where then-PrimeMinister Bob Hawke pledged to hand over power to then-Treasurer PaulKeating at a future date but later reneged – was canvassed but rejectedby Mr Rann.
pledged 发誓抵押 canvassed 详细调查
When asked if such a deal had been struck, the Premier said: "No.Basically what I have said publicly is what I have said privately."
The relationship between Mr Rann and Mr Foley was described by one MP as "an open sore, but one we have to live with".
However, Mr Rann yesterday said he had "a fantastic partnership" with Mr Foley and they were close friends.
Privately, booze and bitterness were blamed for the leadership challenge farce, with mid-week drinks apparently fuelling annoyance bysome backbench MPs over the July ministerial reshuffle which saw no newfaces elevated – and polls showing the Government on the slide.
annoyance 烦恼事， ministerial 内阁的
Once the loose talk of a challenge raised at the Wednesday nightfunction reached more experienced heads it was quickly scuttled by Friday, with senior ministers from both factions telling colleagues such a move would be disastrous.
disastrous灾难的
Yesterday, Mr Rann told the Sunday Mail he had the overwhelming support of his party at all levels.
"The bottom line is I have the support of every single minister, the entire Cabinet, the support of both wings of the Labor Party, they came out last night to demonstrate that," he said.
"I have the support of my federal colleagues, I'm the national president of the Labor Party."
federal 联邦的  colleagues同事
The careers of several ambitious backbench MPs linked to the aborted would-be challenge now appear to have suffered significant setbacks,both due to the need for the Government to regain some stability and in revenge for causing an unnecessary fracture which plays into the handsof the Liberal Party.
revenge 报仇
"A few boneheads had a rush of blood and thought it would be smartto chop down a successful premier – they've been put back in their box,firmly", was how one powerbroker described the fallout.
fallout副产品
Yesterday, Mr Rann delivered an impassioned speech to the conference, listing his Government's achievements since coming to office in 2002, and warned of a future under a Liberal government.
"We in this Government will continue to take the tough decisions, because that is what we were elected to do," he said.
"It is certainly not a time to be inward-looking."
However, Mr Rann was knocked by a motion tabled by the union movement calling for more workers' rights and entitlements underWorkCover.
The motion was overwhelmingly passed as ALP policy, with a singlevoice – Industrial Relations Minister Paul Caica – opposing it.
overwhelmingly 不可抵抗的
"The unions will not let this one go," John Camillo, state secretaryof the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, said afterwards.

[ 本帖最后由 jh_hammer 于 2008-10-18 23:53 编辑 ]

CBA joins rate cut rush
THE Commonwealth Bank of Australia has cut its home loanrates, the third major bank to make a cut independent of the ReserveBank.
Commonwealth variable home loan interest rates willbe cut by 21 percentage points, meaning the standard rate will dropfrom 8.53% to 8.32% and the basic variable home loan from 8.02% to7.81%.

The new rates will be effective from 30 October 2008 for new and existing customers.

Commonwealth will also cut fixed rate home loans for new customers with rates to be reduced by up to 40 percentage points.

Thenews comes as the share market shunned a weaker Wall Street to closealmost four per cent higher on stronger resource and banking stocks.
shunned 躲避
Commonwealth's cut is the latest move in a a full-scale mortgage rate war between the major banks.

The National Australia Bank will slice 0.2 percentage points from its variable mortgage rate from next Monday.

NAB's move comes hot on the heels of the ANZ, which dropped its variable rate by 0.25 percentage points late on Friday.

The decision brings NAB's variable rate to 8.36 per cent and cuts about $31 a month from a $200,000 mortgage.

TheNAB's business lending rates will also fall by 0.2 percentage pointsand some mortgage fixed rates by 0.3 percentage points.

Westpacspokesman David Lording declined to comment on whether the bank'sstandard variable rate would come down from 8.56 per cent.

AussieHome Loans said it would review its standard variable mortgage rateafter dropping the rate by 30 basis points for first-home buyers at theweekend.

The latest cuts by NAB and ANZ follow a 0.8percentage point cut by all four major banks this month after theReserve Bank slashed a full 1 percentage point from official interestrates.
slashed 斜线
Economists are tipping the RBA to again move onofficial interest rates, with a further 0.5 percentage point cut onMelbourne Cup Day.

"I think the RBA will try to get ratesbelow 5 per cent fairly quickly. It could be as much as a 75 basispoints cut in November and then the remainder in December," saidCommsec chief economist Craig James.

"So I think by Christmas we'll see a cash rate of around about 5 per cent or a little bit below."

Plea to save dying trees
THOUSANDS of trees across Adelaide will die this summerafter three years of poor rainfall and watering restrictions, leadinggardeners warn.
They are calling for restrictions to berelaxed, allowing home gardeners to save their trees as the droughtenters its fourth year. Led by The Advertiser'sgardening writer, Jon Lamb, experts are demanding people be allowed towater their trees with drippers for longer and more often to save treesfrom certain death in another hot, dry summer.Mr Lamb, who is also a gardening adviser on ABC Radio, said therewere about one million trees across Adelaide, 80 per cent of which grewin the front or backyards of homes, and most were already suffering.
"I am very, very concerned about the health and the future of the tall trees in Adelaide gardens," he said.
"Our current water-saving measures, or `restrictions', are notdesigned and do not allow us to save the trees which are currently atrisk. I would urge the Government to change the way it allocates thiswater."
Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald yesterday said water restrictions would not be relaxed at this stage.
"It's only an option if we get plenty of rainfall," she said.
But she said restrictions were reviewed monthly and there was enoughwater in reservoirs for the current water restrict-ions to remain inplace.
reservoirs水库
'If masses of trees did die in Adelaide this summer, gardeners havewarned greenhouse gas emissions would increase because there were notenough trees to absorb carbon dioxide.
gas emissions气体泻出
Mr Lamb said the ground beneath the topsoil was "desperately dry from not being wetted up for the past three seasons".
This was from where trees took their moisture, he said.
moisture水分，湿分
5AA gardening adviser Michael Keelan said trees had already died prematurely across Adelaide because of the drought.
He urged state and local governments to allow trees recognised asbeing "significant" because of their age and/or size to be watered moreto ensure they survived.
"I think if we have another summer like we have had over the past three years, it's going to be fairly disastrous," he said.
"They allow this water for the environment, for the Murray, weshould have it for our own street trees and significant trees in ourprivate gardens."
Mr Keelan and Mr Lamb were part of a statewide call last year toallow the use of drippers when residents could use only buckets orwatering cans.
A drip irrigation system was more efficient than using buckets,hoses or watering cans, because it enabled water to soak into the soiland minimised water run-off.
The State Government relented and allowed drip irrigation systems to be used from October last year.
Mr Lamb said a monthly soaking, which would allow drip irrigationsystems to operate for 10 hours during the summer months, would be theleast that could be done to keep trees alive.
It would give trees up to 1000 litres of water, which would not bewasteful watering, he said. "What value do we put on the tree?" Mr Lambsaid.
David Lawry, the director of non-profit urban tree conservationorganisation Treenet, said trees would "absolutely" die this summerfrom a lack of water.
"Trees will be under a huge stress . . . because the moisturecontent of the soils has been deplenished very much and there are noreserves to go on."
deplenished倒空
Horticultural Media Association president Kim Syrus said trees would need more water this summer because it had been so dry.
Horticultural园艺的
He called for the hours people could water their gardens on weekendsto be reduced and some time allocated during the week, to ensuregardens could receive a drink more than once a week.
"In an ideal world, if we could be a bit more flexible with our time, our gardens will be a lot, lot better," he said.
Broadview gardener Caroline Dawes has struggled to keep severallarge trees in her garden alive on the current water restrictionregime. "One good soak every couple of weeks is what is required forthem, not a quick 20-minute sprinkle," she said.
Mrs Dawes said she was concerned about the environmental effect if trees across Adelaide were to die.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and store the carbonin their trunks. "Every time a tree is pruned or dies, that carbondioxide is being released back to the air," Mrs Dawes said.