Australian MasterChef was rigged - says by the fans

MasterChef Australia Judge Matt Preston denied the competition was a popularity contest, as figures today confirmed it was the most-watched Aussie TV show ever

Julie Goodwin, 38, beat Adelaide's Poh Ling Yeow in a three-round challenge in front of their former top 20 MasterChef Australia opponents and judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris last night.

Celebrity chef Curtis Stone also attended the final which included the finalists identifying ingredients in a beef bourguignon dish, cooking an entire chicken and perfecting Matt Moran's signature dish, a chocolate tart with chocolate half pipe and macaroons accompanied by a chocolate sorbet.

After the win, furious fans took to the internet to label MasterChef a fraud, saying popularity rather than cooking won Julie the title.

But Preston told News Limited the reasons Julie won were obvious.

"Julie identified one more ingredient in the taste test, she plated up a better dish in the invention test and in the final challenge she made a sorbet that wasn't grainy," Preston said. "They are things you can't fix."

In the chicken challenge Preston gave Julie the edge by rating her dish one point higher than Poh's. He said he made the decision based on the quality of the food.

"The other three judges scored them the same. I gave Julie an extra point because it was a better looking dish and if I was going to pay money for those dishes I would be more willing to pay more for Julie's dish."

"It's as simple as that. She put more value on the plate, there was more technique and more detail."

Preston said Poh's failure to follow the recipe in the final chocolate challenge had cost her dearly.

"Poh didn't temper the chocolate. It didn't crack as it should do. It wasn't shiny. Her sorbet was grainy," Preston said. "I think the result was clear. Everyone where I was watching knew it was Julie." "It's not a popularity contest if it was Justine would have won."

Hongkong school offers free notebooks to attract student enrolments

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(星島日報報道) 為期兩天的升中註冊昨日展開，面對經濟不景，有屯門區中學向中一新生提供多項福利，包括免費課本、午膳、交通津貼及輕便型手提電腦（Netbook）等，估計每名中一新生可獲高達一萬元津貼.

屯門區深培中學日前在學校網頁張貼了一張中一「叩門」宣傳單張，聲稱「為減輕中一學生家長的經濟負擔」，新學年推出多項「中一新生福利措施」，包括免費贈送全套中一課本、全年留校午膳、一套夏季校服及一部輕便型手提電腦。校方更提供三年共六百元的初中課外圖書津貼，區外學生則有全年二千元的交通津貼，而家住天水圍的學生不僅享有全年免費單程校巴服務，更額外有一千元交通津貼，該校並已開辦食物銀行，為有需要的低收入學生家庭提供即時食物援物。

　　有網民則在網上討論區上譏諷該校做法是「六千蚊換學生一世前途」，立法會議員張文光亦認為該校今次做法難免引起非議，「學校為求生存，只能選擇這樣難堪的做法，正是殺校政策造成的惡性競爭。」

A secondary school offers freebies to attract students to enroll for next September..
- a notebook
- free meals
- free school books
- free school uniform
- $600 book subsidies
- $2000 per year transport subsidies (outside zone)
- free school bus transport (in zone)
- $1000 per year transport subsidies (in zone students)

It reflected the crisis of school closures in Hongkong where government will shut down schools that have insufficient enrollments next year...

$90 Million OZ Lotto - the BIGGEST ever in Australia

There were no first division winners in Oz Lotto's last Tuesday night $59 million draw. As a result, the prize pool is a mega $90 million for the draw tomorrow at 30 June.

Sol Trujillo claims Australia a racist country

The former CEO of Telstra, Sol Trujillo, says doing business in Australia is like taking a "step back in time", there are racist views here and the nation must change. He claims many Australians have approached him to apologise for the Prime Minister over his use of the word "adios" when responding to the news that Mr Trujillo was leaving Telstra.

Mr Trujillo says there are racist views abroad in Australia and trying to do business here is like taking a "step back in time".

SABRA LANE: In San Diego, the BBC's Steve Evans asked Mr Trujillo for his reaction to that.

SOL TRUJILLO: Many Australians have come up to me and they've apologised, because they're embarrassed by that kind of behaviour.

STEVE EVANS: Because I noticed reading the papers there, that when you were referred to they would always point out that you were, had a Hispanic background, or whatever.

In other words in Britain and in America it would have been neither here nor there; in Australia it was invariably pointed out.

And the Prime Minister, when asked what his parting words to you would be, said "Adios".

Was that racism?

SOL TRUJILLO: I think by definition - there were even columnists who wrote stories that said it was.

But you know, my point is that that does exist and it's got to change because the world is full of a lot of people and most economies have to take advantage - including Australia - of a diverse set of people.

And if there is a belief that only a certain people are acceptable versus others, that is a sad state.

SOL TRUJILLO: Well, I would say that Australia definitely is different than the US.

You know, in many ways it's like stepping back in time, just simply because of some of the policies, some of the laws that, you know, are more recent.

So if you think about, you know, the immigration policies that weren't changed until about 30 years ago or so, which were very...

STEVE EVANS: The White Australia policy?

SOL TRUJILLO: ...Which were very restrictive. If you think about privatisation of companies - you know that's only that's 10 or 15 years old, you know, in terms of what most people would call a developed economy.

And essentially you know, the isolation of the country, by virtue of distance, you know there's a lot of considerations there that say it's a much different operating climate, environment than most other countries.

STEVE EVANS: Do you think there's racism there?

SOL TRUJILLO: Well I think it was evidenced in a lot of ways there, you know, with me personally, but more importantly with others as you look at some of the events that have occurred over last five or 10 years, some of them before I was there, some while I was there.

But, I'm sure that that will continue because of you know, what I would call the evolution, and the maturation of a country.

Australian mum was jailed for stealing a bar mat in Phuket

An Australian tourist, Annice Smoel, could face up to five years in jail for allegedly stealing a beer bar mat from a Australian themed pub in the resort region of Phuket in Thailand.

36-year-old Annice Smoel from Melbourne, Australia spent four days in a 4 by 4 cell with three other women says she was left "scared, helpless and alone" after being arrested for taking a bar mat. Annice Smoel claims she had nothing to do with the alleged incident.

An Australian mad bar mat, often stolen from pubs across Phuket by drunk Australian "larakyns".

Retrenchment at Oracle 2009

According to rumours from various sources, Oracle is going through a retrenchment exercise. Several people are rumoured to have been retrenched from the USA and India Office. Retrenched personnel is rumoured to account to as much as 10%, i.e. 8000 employees. Rumoured departments affected are: CRM Sales, Sales Business Operations, Channels group, IB group, PeopleSoft and much more.

Oracle has an office in Singapore, we do not know yet whether the Singapore office went throught the exercise also. If you have any information, please send to us: admin@breaking.sg

Click below link for more details.

http://retrenchment-blog.breaking.sg/2009/01/rumour-oracle-going-through-retrenchment-exercise/

Meet the Chinese Celine Dion