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Roberta declares war on gangland glamazon
FORMER underworld wife Roberta Williams has threatened to hurt gangland lawyer and new mother Zarah Garde-Wilson.
Ms Garde-Wilson was back in her stilettos and back at work yesterday, just a fortnight after giving birth to a daughter believed to be named Samantha.
The baby's birth has triggered a spat between Ms Garde-Wilson and Williams, a mother of four, who says she was devastated her former friend failed to tell her the good news.
Williams, ex-wife of convicted murderer Carl, said yesterday the lawyer had stripped the family of all their cash and then abandoned them in a bid to clean up her public image.
"I hate her livid guts," Williams told the Herald Sun.
"I made a promise to her, when I see her I am going to hurt her."
Williams said yesterday the pair had once been best friends, but were now bitter rivals after she claimed Ms Garde-Wilson made money defending her and Carl, and then abandoned the family when the funds dried up.
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Hot pink day at the SCG
IT was the feeling that Tracy Bevan had been dreading.
That nauseating swirling that hits the pit of the stomach before a big event. But on Sunday night, as the mother-of-two tried to sleep, she knew it wasn't excitement that was causing the giddiness.
Replaying in her head was the regular drive from her Northern Beaches home, across the Harbour Bridge to the Sydney Cricket Ground members car park -- where her best friend Jane McGrath would always be waiting for her, beaming with her famous smile.
Yesterday, on what is traditionally Ladies Day of the Sydney Test match, Mrs Bevan made the long drive.
But there was no Jane to meet her.
Instead, was a sea of pink and the faces of Jane's husband, Glenn McGrath, and their two children, James and Holly, to welcome her. In support of the McGrath Foundation, Ladies Day -- the day that Jane and Mrs Bevan cherished -- has been renamed the Jane McGrath Day, to honour the woman who lost an 11-year battle with breast cancer last June.
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Tears ruin WAG good looks
THEY are the glamorous wives and girlfriends of our cricketing stars and they were reduced to tears after an emotional speech by Tracy Bevan, wife of Test veteran Michael, at the Jane McGrath High Tea yesterday.
``I was left in tears after Tracy's speech,'' said Jess Bratich, the 27-year-old girlfriend of Mitchell Johnson, who was one of a number of wives and girlfriends who gathered at the SCG for the McGrath Foundation.
Looking out to the sea of faces, which included cricketing WAGS Rhianna Ponting, Lee Furlong, Di Hauritz, Kelly Hayden and Amy Hussey, Bevan was overwhelmed by the level of support yesterday.
And the crowd was moved by Bevan's personal tale of how she travelled with Jane McGrath on her journey battling breast cancer.
But after the tears were wiped away, the event was also a catch-up for the WAGS, a term that Bratich said she was still coming to terms with two years into her relationship with strike bowler Johnson.
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Claims mining is destroying famous sand dunes
KURNELL Peninsula is in danger of becoming an island as allegedly illegal sand mining threatens to cut off the small community from the mainland.
The State Government is investigating claims the once-mighty dunes, made famous by Mad Max III, mined since 1968, are being secretly plundered at far greater depths than allowed to help provide a million tonnes of sand a year -- about 50 per cent of the NSW construction industry's supply of building sand.
Aerial photographs taken by The Daily Telegraph show the full extent of destruction caused by 40 years of mining, with 30m-high dunes gouged into deep stagnant pools, ponds and man-made lakes.
Environmental groups and conservationists now fear a major storm event, combined with sustained mining and rising sea levels, would overwhelm the remaining natural barrier between the Pacific Ocean and Botany Bay -- North Cronulla Beach.
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Sizzling Siddle catches fire
AS Australia's past and future crossed over yesterday, Matthew Hayden took a death-or-glory approach to what must surely be his last Test innings.
Hayden should have been out blazing away late yesterday on a decaying pitch once Peter Siddle set up the final Test with a devastating burst against South Africa that has left Australia in a commanding position with two days to play.
Australia will resume this morning on 0-33, an overall lead of 151, thanks to Siddle slicing the bottom off the South African innings. He claimed the last four wickets in just 22 balls to finish with 5-59 as South Africa was bowled out for 327.
It was his first five-wicket haul in just his fourth Test and leaves him with encouraging career figures of 14 wickets at an average of 34 with the promise of more to come tomorrow.
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FROM OUR BEST SNAPS OF THE YEAR - Amos Aikman
NOVEMBER 5, Sydney: Montell Parker, 64, an African-American who moved from New Jersey to Australia in 1981, is overcome with emotion as Barack Obama's election as 44th president of the US is announced. Whatever your opinion of Obama, there is no doubt his election will go down as a momentous occasion in history. In a packed bar on Sydney's Oxford Street, a couple of hundred enthusiastic American expatriates gathered to watch their man do his thing.
By lunch (local time) the election was a foregone conclusion and the event seemed as if it might turn into a fizzer. But when the moment arrived it was a rush: the whole room rose to a co-ordinated outpouring of personal emotion: a youth climbed on to a chair and beat his head with his hands, a woman swooned, another prayed, an elderly African-American man wept uncontrollably. It may be a stretch for some to imagine the next four years being much different from the past except, perhaps in that one moment that meant so much to so many people,
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Garrett places tough conditions on pulp mill
FINAL approval for the $2.2billion Gunns pulp mill is now more than two years away after federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett imposed new conditions, casting further doubt over the controversial project.
As forecast exclusively by The Australian, Mr Garrett yesterday announced new hurdles facing the project, withholding final approval for a vital environmental impact management plan.
Construction of the mill in Tasmania's Tamar Valley can begin if, or when, Gunns obtains the financial backing or a joint venture partner that has so far eluded the timber giant. However, final approval for the EIMP will not occur for at least a further 26 months. Opponents welcomed the move to impose new restrictions, but were disappointed Gunns could begin building. Tamar Valley wine grower Peter Whish-Wilson said if the mill were proposed for Sydney's northern beaches, where Mr Garrett helped found a Surf Riders group, the minister would not allow one brick to be laid.
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Outdoors play protects young eyes
THE hours spent in front of the PlayStation or at the computer play no role in ruining a child's sight, with Australian researchers finding that being cooped up indoors is what gives children glasses.
Children should spend two to three hours a day outside to prevent them becoming short-sighted, says a study by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Vision Science.
A comparison of children of Chinese origin in Australia and Singapore, which has the highest rate of myopia in the world, found the only significant difference was the time spent outdoors.
The study, conducted on the centre's behalf by Australian National University and Sydney University researchers, challenges the prevailing assumption that near work, such as watching television, reading a book or playing computer games, ruins vision.
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Costello predicts choppy sailing for Rudd
PETER Costello has echoed a warning from John Howard on the dangers of budget deficits, saying they are hard to recoup once they are spent.
Speaking at the annual KPMG Couta Boat classic yacht race in Sorrento, Victoria, the former federal treasurer said the Rudd Government was set for a ``challenging year''.
``I think the Government will find it's much harder to build financial strength than it is to spend it,'' he said.
Mr Costello has been a regular at the event, which attracts Australia's top corporate identities for a leisurely day of racing in antique wooden sailboats.
He appeared confident despite sharing space on board the Romy with Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford, whose airline has been plagued with safety problems in recent months. ``I figure that if he can keep Qantas in the air, he can keep the boat upright,'' Mr Costello said.
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First night troupe gets a leg-up
IT's no stretch to say theatre troupe Stalker is breaking new ground.
The innovative Sydney company combines stilt-walking acrobatics with breakdancing in its show, Stiltbreak, part of which will be performed at Saturday's Sydney Festival First Night.
Director and performer Nick Power, 31, who hails from a breakdancing background has been with Stalker for four years.
He admits doing tricks 3m in the sky does not come naturally: ``It takes time to feel at ease up there and bust a move,'' he said. ``What we do on stilts is very different to what you would see at a carnival. We do backflips and handstands and breakdance moves.''
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Happy New Year!!
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