World News joined 6

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[OMEN]

GUNNED DOWN: Medical personnel move a stretcher carrying East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta from an ambulance into Royal Darwin Hospital.
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta is expected to make a "full recovery" after he was shot in a failed assassination attempt, the head of Royal Darwin Hospital says.

Dr Ramos-Horta was transferred to the hospital late yesterday for emergency medical treatment after he was shot at least twice by rebels outside his Dili home earlier in the day.

The hospital's general manager Dr Len Notaras said three surgeons operated on Dr Ramos-Horta for two to three hours last night, dressing bullet wounds and removing shrapnel.

Although the wounds are serious Dr Ramos-Horta is expected to make a "full recovery".

"I would expect that he is quite resilient and I expect that recovery would be a full recovery," Dr Notaras told ABC Radio.

"That is not to, in anyway, underestimate the severity of the injuries and the nastiness of the gunshot wounds.

"They are terrible injuries ... but we are hoping to give him the best chance at a full recovery."

Dr Ramos-Horta, who remains in an induced coma, will undergo further surgery.

Dr Notaras said the most significant injury was to the lower portion of the president's right lung.

"The most severe is a wound to his lower right chest, there were soft tissue wounds to the back and around the area of the ... shoulder blade.

"We'll have to go back to theatre, probably in the next 24-26 hours, for some more staged surgery but at this stage we are looking quite stable.

"If he needed to breathe by himself at this stage he would be capable of doing that."

Dr Notaras said the injuries were caused by a "high-velocity weapon" but it was too early to determine whether there were two or three gunshot wounds.

"It's either two or three bullets that have been involved in this," he said.

"Fragments of those bullets have been removed and retained for forensic investigation."

Reuters

[OMEN]

Non-Hispanic whites will become a minority in the United States by 2050, with immigrants and their children driving 82 per cent of US population growth in coming years, a new study said.

The US population will grow to 438 million in 2050 from 296 million in 2005 if current population trends continue, the Pew Research Center study found.

Non-Hispanic whites would account for 47 percent of the total in 2050, it concluded.

By that time, one in every five Americans will be a foreign-born immigrant, compared to one in eight in 2005.

"Of the 117 million people added to the population in this period due to the effect of new immigration, 67 million will be the immigrants themselves and 50 million will be their US-born children or grandchildren," the study said.

While the white population, with its lower fertility rate, ages, the Latino population, the nation's largest minority, will triple in size. Latinos will be responsible for 60 per cent of the population growth until 2050.

They will account for 29 per cent of the population, or 128 million in 2050, up from 14 per cent now, the study said.

"The number of whites will increase, but only by 4 per cent," said D'Vera Cohn, one of the report's authors.

The Asian population will almost double in percentage terms, from 5 to 9 per cent, while blacks will remain around 13 per cent of the total, the report said.

At the same time, the elderly population will more than double as the baby boom generation retires. The number of children and working-age people will grow more slowly.

Almost half of the new immigrants arriving the country will be from Latin American countries, said the other author of the study, Jeffrey S Passel from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Reuters

[W-OLF]

You mean we arent now LOL .

[W-OLF]

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- A magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook southern Mexico on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake gently swayed buildings in Mexico City, and it was felt hundreds of miles to the east along the Gulf coast, according to local radio stations.

The temblor struck at 6:50 a.m. and was centered in the region of Oaxaca, the USGS said.

In the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, many people fled into the streets and then lingered outside their homes, fearing aftershocks.

"It was horrible," said Cecilia Gomez, standing with her family outside her home. "It really scared me."

Daniel Roque, of southern Chiapas state's civil protection agency, said some residents reported panic attacks, but no damage was registered.

[OMEN]

The terrified Australian wife of East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao told her children to hide under the bed when she discovered there were armed gunmen stalking her house. She then made a panicked call to her husband to discover he was already under fire.

Under guard by UN security forces and speaking from a secret location in Dili, Kirsty Sword Gusmao gave her account of the morning when the President and Prime Minister of East Timor were targets of assassination attempts, which started with Mr Gusmao ignoring orders from the country's security chief not to leave the family home.

"Round about 7.30 in the morning, Xanana's driver came around and alerted us there had been an incident involving Jose Ramos Horta and there were unconfirmed reports that he had been injured in a shooting attack. We were advised by the Secretary of State for Defence that we should stay in our house until further notice," Mrs Sword Gusmao said.

"Now Xanana, being extremely concerned about the news of the present situation, proceeded down to Dili immediately."

Only moments later, however, her personal security attache advised her that there were armed gunmen stalking the surroundings of the house.

"My first concern was for the children who had just got out of the bath and we were readying them to get to school. I got them dressed quickly and got them to get under the bed not knowing how many men we were talking about."

Mrs Sword Gusmao, who was looking after her own three children as well as a mother and her four children fleeing domestic violence, attempted to comfort the children but admitted she was preparing herself for "a hail of bullets".

"Then it was a case of just sitting tight with the children and calming them down … I just said to them (the children) that there were some people who were not happy with daddy and perhaps wanted to cause some harm to daddy, and it wasn't about us and nobody was trying to hurt us.

"Of course, in my heart I wasn't sure that was the case at all. I wouldn't have been surprised at that point if there had been a hail of bullets through the window."

But when Mrs Sword Gusmao tried to contact her husband for help, she was met by the horrific sounds of his attempted assassination.

"I rang Xanana at that point to tell him that we were at great risk, and at that very moment Xanana's car was being ambushed and it was clear that (there) was tremendous mayhem and panic happening, and that only added to my fear and terror."

The siege was eventually defused when the family's personal guards, some of whom knew the attackers, managed to convince the rebels that the house only contained women and children.

"My very brave security guards, Timorese members of the police force, were able to go and negotiate with the armed men, some of which they knew personally and I think to convince them that Xanana wasn't there in the house and it was completely fruitless."

What followed was a nervous 1½ hours trapped in the house until elite Portuguese special military police arrived to collect the family, escorting back them back to Dili where they were reunited with Mr Gusmao.

Mrs Sword Gusmao, who is originally from Melbourne, met Mr Gusmao when he was imprisoned in Indonesia. She later acted as a spy for the East Timorese.

She said that although she knew an attempt on Mr Gusmao's life was always a possibility, she never believed it would happen.

"I never really believed in my heart that there would ever be an attempt on his life, much less involve myself or the children."

But Mrs Sword Gusmao vowed the risks would not deter her from going on living in East Timor.

"A number of people rang offering us the option of evacuation … but, as was the case in 2006, I thought, no, I've thrown my lot in with Timor-Leste and with the people."

The Age

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks.

[OMEN]

COMING TOGETHER: Left to right: Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson kisses Ngunnawal elder Matilda House while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd greets Aboriginal dancer Glen Doyle at the opening of Parliament in Canberra yesterday.
Australia has formally apologised to the stolen generations with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reading a speech in federal Parliament this morning.
The speech was read at 11am NZT to the minute, as the first action of the second sitting day of the 42nd Parliament of Australia.

Both Mr Rudd and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin received a standing ovation as they entered the Great Hall before the Prime Minister delivered the speech.

The 361 word speech was completed by 9.03am and was watched by hundreds of parliamentarians, former prime ministers and representatives of the Indigenous community.

In another address directly after the speech, Mr Rudd spoke of removing a "stain from the soul of Australia''.

"The time has come, well and truly come ... for all Australians, those who are indigenous and those who are not to come together, truly reconcile and together build a truly great nation."

At Martin Place in Sydney, hundreds of Sydneysiders from all walks of life gathered to watch the Sorry Day celebrations holding Australian, Aboriginal and Torress Straits Islanders flags.

Men and women in business suits, schoolchildren and other passers-by of all different backgrounds cried, smiled and stood in respect as they listened to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, apologise.

The speech was not greeted with unanimous approval, however, with Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey telling Sky News shortly before 9am he doubted the speech - which has bipartisan support - would change anything.

"So the Prime Minister reads a speech, apparently some people stand up and sit down and then a miracle happens over night, there'll be no petrol sniffing ... and girls can sleep safely in the family bed at night," he said.

When asked by Sky News if he supported the apology a technical error occurred, with Mr Tuckey telling the camera he was unable to hear the question.

- with AAP

[Will]

The speech began at 11am and ended at 9:03am? Thats a long time to read 300 words. Unless they breeched the speed of light and engaged in time travel which took them back 2 hours. In that case, its just plain awesome.

[JohnCenaFan28]

^ LOL, that's funny. The pic scares me, thanks for this.