Warne, ex-wife ignite Rumours of Renewed love match

Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne and his ex-wife Simone Callahan stepped out together at the Wimbledon men's final on Sunday, igniting rumors of a renewed love match.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Warne and Simone looked a happy couple in the grandstands at the royal box end.

They spent a relaxed afternoon in each other's company. However some habits die hard, with Warne spotted texting on his mobile phone as he stood in front of Callahan.

Warne was in London for a Twenty20 match with his Rajasthan Royals Indian Premier League team at Lord's - a match promoted as his last game at the famous venue.

Warne flew into the UK from Las Vegas, where he has been competing in the World Series of Poker event as part of his new part-time poker career.

The spin king took Callahan and the pair's three children to Vegas with him. But they had not been spotted together until yesterday at Wimbledon, where Roger Federer beat Andy Roddick to win a record 15th grand slam title.

The pair missed the historic moment, slipping out of Centre Court at the start of the fifth set.

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16th Indian Student attacked in Australia

A 20-year-old student from Hyderabad became the latest victim of an alleged racist attack in Melbourne even as Australia’s education secretary Lisa Paul met overseas affairs minister Vayalar Ravi in New Delhi to discuss the safety of Indian students in her country.

This is the 16th attack on Indians in Australia in the past month.

Mir Kazim Ali Khan, who is doing a two-year diploma course in Hospitality Management at the Victoria Institute of Technology, Melbourne, was assaulted by two men on Monday evening.

Mir Kazim was punched so badly that he suffered cuts below his eyes and forehead and was admitted to a hospital where he received multiple stitches on his face.

“I was returning from a salon when two men wearing hooded jackets walked up to me and repeatedly punched me without any provocation,” Mir Kazim reportedly told his family in Hyderabad. The police arrived within 10 minutes and shifted him to hospital.

Mir Kazim moved to Australia in 2007. “He chose Australia over other places because it was considered a good place with good people and culture,” Mir Kazim’s brother Mir Raza Ali Khan told HT.

“The attack obviously looks racial, as there was no attempt to rob him,” Mir Raza added.

In New Delhi, India asked Australia to increase police patrolling in vulnerable areas.

Australia was also asked to regulate university agents there, who contact Indian students through agents here. There have been cases of students being misled about the institution they would be admitted to.

Paul, Australia’s visiting official, said, “The attacks are happening in areas that that are already vulnerable to criminal activity,” she said. Several arrests have been made and police patrolling had already been increased.

“The Victorian government is tightening legislation relating to crimes that may have racist angles,” she said.

“The situation is gradually improving,” said minister Vayalar Ravi. “We are in touch with Australia to ensure no attack takes place.”

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Dhoni's honeymoon Period is over: Waugh

Aussie great Steve Waugh enjoys watching Twenty20 cricket but is not considering lending his expertise to it in the near future. He would rather give time to philanthropy.

"T20 is exciting and has given the game new shots. It is interesting to watch (Tillekaratne) Dilshan hit the ball over the wicketkeeper's head. However, I am not giving a thought to coaching in this form of the game and wonder where the stories come from," Waugh said in reference to reports that he was likely to take over from John Buchanan at Kolkata Knight Riders.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function to announce details of the association of the Steve Waugh Foundation Global with 6 UP -- the runs per over SMS Game, the former Aussie skipper said the shortest form had bridged the gap between teams.
Waugh maintained that India and Australia were among the better sides.

"India are capable of beating any team, anywhere. As for Australia, they may have lost the tag of invincibility, but winning series like the upcoming Ashes won't be difficult for them," said Waugh.

Waugh refused to compare Mahendra Dhoni with Sourav Ganguly, under whose captaincy India had stopped Australia's winning streak of 16 Test matches in 2001, but had good words for the current Indian captain despite the early loss in England.

"Dhoni is a fantastic captain but I think he could do with a break," said Waugh, when asked whether Dhoni's honeymoon period was over.

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Thirsty Camels 'turning the taps on' in central Australia

Camels are coming into communities in central Australia and turning on the taps, the Macdonnell Shire Council says.

The shire has applied to the Federal Government for a $4.5 million slice of infrastructure funding to build camel-proof boundaries around 14 communities.

Wayne Wright from the shire says thirsty camels are causing significant damage.

"In a number of our communities it's quite common for camels to enter the community and if there are any taps adjacent to houses they're quite capable of either turning the taps on or knocking the taps off so they get water."

The intention is to put cattle grids at the entrances of the communities and place fencing around them.

The fencing would also protect the communities from other feral animals, such as donkeys and horses.

Mr Wright says the animals rip up plants and thwart efforts to improve the aesthetics of the communities.

"The big issue for us is should we try to do any beautification works in our communities - tree planting, grassing of areas.

"Unless we can limit the access to those areas, we are going to be wasting our money."

The shire is expecting to find out if the application has been successful next month.

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Escaped snakes Ground Qantas plane

Qantas had to take a plane out of service when baby snakes went missing from a package being carried in the cargo hold earlier this week.

Twelve baby pythons were in the cargo of a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne on Tuesday, but on arrival only eight were left.

When staff realised the snakes had apparently escaped the aircraft was taken out of service and fumigated, causing delays for passengers.

Qantas corporate manager David Epstein says the snakes' escape was a mystery because the consignment had been properly packaged.

"Our people called in a reptile expert and there was a suggestion that some of the baby pythons had eaten the other pythons because apparently it is not uncommon for baby pythons to eat each other," he said.

Qantas staff then weighed the remaining baby pythons to determine if they were heavier, but they were not.

"The only conclusion we could draw was four of them had broken free of the packaging," Mr Epstein said.

He says the baby pythons are about the length of a pencil and slightly skinnier.

"We thought the best thing to do was to call in a wildlife expert, and determine if they're endangered or not.

"They're not endangered, so a decision was made to take the plane out of service and fumigate it, so if these snakes ever turn up on one of our aircraft, they will be very much dead snakes."

The snakes remain missing.

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Call for alcohol rehab model rollout Across NT

The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress wants its alcohol rehabilitation model applied to remote communities across the Northern Territory.

The congress has been running a non-residential treatment service in Alice Springs during the past year.

Under the model, clients are prescribed a drug to break alcohol dependence, given cognitive behaviour therapy by a psychologist and follow-up visits by an Aboriginal support worker.

The organisation's John Boffa says he is hoping the next $8 million in Council of Australian Governments (COAG) funding to be spent in the NT will be used to apply the model in remote communities.

"To provide the same service to people where they live throughout central Australia and I think, given the amount of investment that's coming into the alcohol sector, it's vitally important and more efficient to ensure that services are decentralised and they are on the ground in communities where people live," he said.

"We think that there should be one psychologist for every 1,500 Aboriginal people across the Northern Territory, so that means all of the larger Aboriginal health services would have their own psychologist and their own Aboriginal family support workers.

"Those psychologists would be able to work with patients who have addictions who are wanting to get off grog or other drugs but also patients with mental illness."

The congress is part of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT, which is meeting the NT and federal governments in a few weeks to discuss its proposed model for rehabilitation

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Children with eating disorders on The rise: study

A new study has revealed more than 100 young children across Australia have been hospitalised with medical complications because of an eating disorder.

Last year, Australian doctors reported children as young as five being diagnosed with eating disorders in Australia.

Dr Sloane Madden specialises in treating children with eating disorders and he says this new research shows they are becoming more common.

"In the last 12 months there has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of young people presenting to our unit," he said.

Professor Phillipa Hay from the University Western Sydney says this is a significant study.

"This is a very important landmark study because for the first time it gives us national information on the nature and characteristics of children who suffer early onset eating disorders," she said.

More than 100 underweight children were admitted to hospitals across Australia.

Professor Hay says many were very sick with the effects of starvation.

"For example slowed heart rate, or very low blood pressure so they had become physically compromised and unwell as a consequence of food deprivation," she said.

One in four of the patients were boys.

"People are not expecting to see boys with eating disorders so they are picked up late with much more physical complications than we saw in young girls," Dr Sloane said.

"Specialists are concerned that some GPs are missing the signs of eating disorders.

"In one case, a doctor told a nine-year-old boy's family not to worry that he was losing weight.

"This young boy presented late on a Sunday night with a heart rate in the 30s which was really putting him at immediate risk of dying. He required resuscitation.

"If there starts to be a pattern of children not eating and becoming thinner and skipping lunch regularly, then parents should be concerned."

At first glance the prevalence of underweight children would seem at odds with the increase in childhood obesity but experts say both overweight and underweight children have what is known as disordered eating and the advice to parents is the same.

With early treatment, three-quarters of children make a complete recovery.

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Eagles enjoy home comforts As Dogs stutter

West Coast collected another prized scalp to make it two wins from two at Subiaco Oval this season - seeing off the Western Bulldogs by 33 points on Sunday evening.

After last week's battering at the hands of St Kilda, coach John Worsfold asked his players to prove themselves and the Eagles group answered emphatically with a 17.14 (116) to 12.11 (83) victory in sweltering conditions.

The Eagles confidently defeated Port Adelaide by 50 at home in round two, but that performance was book-ended by a first-start loss to Brisbane and a 97-point humiliation by the Saints last weekend.

Experienced campaigner David Wirrpanda put the celebratory touches on an impressive display at Subiaco with a goal in the final three minutes adding to 28 touches and 15 marks.

Brent Staker then added a final goal for West Coast, igniting rapturous applause from the crowd as the Bulldogs were left to reflect on their first loss of 2009.

More to follow shortly.

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