Another pathetic Muslim

A teenager who groped a breastfeeding mum at a shopping centre has been sentenced to community service. Mohamed Chkhaidem pleaded guilty at Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court to indecently assaulting the woman as she nursed her week-old baby. The court heard he was traumatised over his girlfriend's abortion when he fondled the woman in a parents' room at Broadmeadows shopping centre on April 30.

Prosecutor Sgt Kevin Ellis said Chkhaidem "invaded an intimate moment between mother and child". Magistrate Robert Kumar imposed an 18-month community-based order, including 200 hours of unpaid community work. Chkhaidem, 18, of Broadmeadows, will not be added to the sex offenders' register. But he will continue psychological treatment, and join sex offenders' programs.

Defence lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson said Chkhaidem had been ridiculed in custody because of media attention to the case. She said he had served three weeks' pre-sentence detention, and had apologised to police when he surrendered himself on May 3. Ms Garde-Wilson recommended a community-based order so Chkhaidem could continue counselling and a new job as a car detailer. "He was suffering a dramatic episode as a result of his partner's abortion several months earlier, which led to his conduct," Ms Garde-Wilson said.

Sgt Ellis said Chkhaidem told police he had frequented parents' rooms for more than six months. Chkhaidem said it made him feel better to watch women breastfeed. Sgt Ellis said Chkhaidem drew back a privacy curtain and started a conversation with the mum. He told her his wife had given birth, and touched her on the left breast and nipple before fleeing. "She was fearful, and felt she contributed to the incident," Sgt Ellis said. He said security footage showed Chkhaidem loitering in the corridor before the attack on the mum. Character references from his former employer at a car wash, his girlfriend and his psychologist were tendered to the court

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Two deaths apparently caused by pain treatment; drug banned in Australia

Correlation is not causation. The liver damage observed may NOT have been due to the drug. Why, for instance, did the other 59,992 users NOT get liver damage? I have head of renal failure being "caused" by Keflex (cephalexin), a mass-prescribed antibiotic. Should we ban Keflex too? All drugs should be prescribed with caution as there may be individual sensitivities but banning a useful drug when vast numbers use it safely is plain crazy. ALL drugs have some side effects in some people. Even penicillin and its derivatives can kill you if you are sensitive to it. If we banned all drugs that appear to have rare side-effects we would have no drugs. Perhaps I shouldn't laugh but Canada has recently announced EXPANDED use of the same drug. That should produce some amusing gyrations

TWO people are dead and two others have undergone liver transplants from a drug, used by 60,000 people in Australia, which was urgently recalled today by the Federal Government. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said patients prescribed the drug Prexige, used to treat osteoarthritis, should stop taking the medication immediately and seek medical advice to get an alternative prescription.

Prexige was first approved by the TGA in 2004, but has only gained widespread use since being listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme last year. Novartis Pharmaceuticals produces the drug, which is listed under the technical name Lumiracoxib. Approximately 60,000 people take Lumiracoxib in Australia, which is prescribed for relief of osteoarthritis, post-operative pain, pain related to dental procedures and painful menstruation.

The TGA has received reports of eight people taking the drug who suffered serious liver reactions, including two deaths and two liver transplants. "The TGA has taken this advice to cancel the registration of Lumiracoxib in order to prevent further cases of severe liver damage," TGA medical adviser Rohan Hammett said. "It seems that the longer people are on the medicine, the greater chance of liver injury."

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Fruit fanaticism

Nobody is even interested in proof of benefit. The wonderful powers of fruit seem to be a worldwide article of faith



VICTORIAN school children will get free fruit every Friday under an $11 million plan to help prevent obesity and diabetes. Launching the program today, Premier John Brumby said 35,000 prep to grade two students at 300 schools would take part in Free Fruit Friday under the first stage of the scheme. "It's all about trying to build a healthier population, educating kids, educating families and making sure that their diet is as good as possible,'' Mr Brumby said.

A study of a similar scheme in England found providing free fruit to young school children had limited benefits. The scheme promoted an increase in fruit intake after three months, the effect reduced at seven months and returned to baseline in year two when pupils were no longer part of the scheme, researchers found. There was a small impact on the intake of some nutrients across the children surveyed, researchers found. The study was published last month in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Mr Brumby said the Victorian scheme was more comprehensive than the one tried in the UK and would be more successful. "This is part of a broader strategy which is also linked through programs like Go For Your Life,'' Mr Brumby said. "I think if you just did this in isolation from a whole range of other initiatives, you might say: 'Well, is it going to work?'''

Mr Brumby said the program would create behavioural change. "I think it'll work. We'll, obviously, evaluate the program but we're making a big investment and we need to do that because we do have a diabetes and obesity epidemic in Australia.'' Schools will be encouraged to buy their fruit locally.

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Australia growing impatient with Iraq: Downer

The Australian government is getting impatient because the reconciliation process in Iraq is not moving as fast as it would like, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says. The comments come after Prime Minister John Howard wrote to his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki, warning that unless there was faster progress towards resolving Iraq's political differences, Australian and other Western troops could withdraw.

"I think we are getting impatient because the process of reconciliation is not moving as fast as we would like," Mr Downer told Sky News on Saturday. But he said it was not just Australia that was worried about the slow progress, other countries involved in Iraq were also concerned. "I think we would all like to see the process of reconciliation moving forward a bit faster," he said. "I'm under no illusions about how difficult it is and we're certainly not naive in our commentary on the situation there, but there is no doubt that the process needs to move a bit faster."

Mr Downer said he had made Australia's position known when he met with Mr Maliki recently. "I made it very clear to the Iraqi prime minister that whilst the surge was having some success, the process of reconciliation in our view, and I think in the international community's view, wasn't moving forward fast enough," Mr Downer said. He said Mr Maliki needed to realise how controversial Australia's commitment to Iraq was. "Public opinion ... is pretty fragile on the issue of Iraq and he needs to be conscious of that public opinion and the implications that could flow from the reconciliation process not being successful."

But Mr Downer would not commit Australia to any specific date to withdraw troops from Iraq. "I think it's a mistake to lay down dates, even if you privately have in mind dates - we don't particularly - but even if you did, I think it would be a big mistake to make that public," the minister said. "The experience from history is that if you set a date for withdrawal, without attaching it to conditions, it gives the impression you're setting a date for defeat and that will lead to the insurgency intensifying."

There needed to be significant improvements made in the region before any withdrawal was possible, he said. "I think most people now realise that if there was a sudden withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq the consequences would be completely catastrophic," Mr Downer said. Only once the Iraqis prove they can govern their country effectively can the Australian troops fully withdraw, he said. "Obviously eventually once the Iraqis can maintain security, and they feel confident they can, foreign forces should withdraw and that's the object of the exercise - but it must be conditions-based, not time-based."

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