In Japan, you can buy almost anything – and now you can buy a friend, a wife, even a best man for your wedding. There has been a boom in so-called ‘rent-a-friend’ agencies, as people strive to save face in sometimes awkward social situations. One professional ‘rent-a-friend’ says his service is about helping people, not [...]

A waste management expert says Australia is lagging behind other countries on the issue of disposal of electronic waste. Sunil Herat from Griffith University says Australia needs national regulations for disposal of old computers, mobile phones and other recent technology. Dr Herat will present his findings to a Cleanup 09 conference in Adelaide today. He [...]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libya’s Moamar Gaddafi have urged African and South American leaders to strive for a new world order countering Western economic dominance. They spoke on the first day of a 28-nation summit that was long on idealistic speeches but short on concrete steps beyond an agreement to set up a development [...]

THE Victorian government is expected to announce today that religious groups will be allowed to discriminate against gays and single mothers in a controversial compromise reached on workers’ rights. Attorney-General Rob Hulls has approved of a plan to let church-run organisations refuse employment to anyone they believe undermines their beliefs, according to The Sunday Age. [...]

A man (20) who helped a lost and tearful little girl (6) find her way to her grandmother’s distant abode has been arrested for child kidnapping, we hear. The girl had apparently been scolded by her mother and was tearfully malingering in the street on afternoon. At this point the man passed by, and asked [...]

A 14-year-old girl who took naked pictures of herself for her boyfriend’s entertainment and posted them on her MySpace profile faces charges of possessing and disseminating child pornography, with a maximum sentence of 17-years. If convicted, the young predator also faces a lifetime of discrimination as a registered sex offender, along with rapists and pederasts. [...]

Seven primary schools in New South Wales are offering to participate in the pilot of an ethics course as an alternative to religion classes. The Education Act prohibits non-scripture students being taught while others receive religious instruction. It reflects a 19th Century deal between the New South Wales government and churches. Scripture opt-out rates can [...]

Being spanked as a child is linked to having a lower IQ, according to a study presented today at the International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in San Diego. The relationship between spanking and intelligence is found in children around the world, said the lead author of the study, University of New Hampshire professor [...]