Today's Headlines
Tuesday 28th May 1996
International:
Mobil Corp appears set to take over Australian company Ampolex Limited after yesterday announcing that it had all but sealed
the deal. Mobil said that it had already gained more than 90% of Ampolex shares since making the bid. All the major institutional
shareholders have now accepted the offer.
Political:
The Prime Minister, John Howard, is expected to soften the number of cuts proposed by the Department of Finance to Aboriginal
funding in an effort to heal the rift that has formed between the Aboriginals and the Federal Coalition government. Howard met yesterday with
a number of Aboriginal leaders.
Howard failed to clarify the government's stance on Native Title - an area which is starting to loom as a major political minefield.
Business:
The State Government of Queensland came up with a masterstroke which saved the state from losing its largest financial
institution, the Metway Bank to St George in New South Wales. Government owned Suncorp and the Queensland Investment Development
Corporation are involved in a mega-merger with Metway which, if the Bank of Queensland come to the party, will result in Queensland's
largest company worth Au$21 billion. The proposed merger between Metway and St George has been shelved.
Sport:
The Queensland Blues team has been torn apart following their loss against New South Wales in the first State of Origin match.
Five players were sacked including the captain, Trevor Gillmeister who held Queensland together for a remarkable 3-0 win against
New South Wales last year. Remarkable because all Super League players were overlooked. This involved the entire Brisbane
Broncos team which had normally made up the state side.
A distraught Trevor Gillmeister said that loyalty had been lost in the face of quality and that it was unlikely that he would ever play
for the state side again.
Just Weird:
Mental telepathy.
Identical twins John and William Bloomfield, who were inseperable for sixty one years, died together at the weekend in what has been described
as a spectacular case of "domino" death.
Each suffered a heart attack within minutes of the other in Perth, Western Australia, early on Sunday prompting a specialist in the
field to say that it was likely that the death of one triggered that of the other.
The 61 year old bachelors not only dressed alike and wore similar hairstyles, but were physically indistinguishable down to
matching surgical scars!
They had similar medical histories. Each had a surgical scar on the same thigh for hip replacement operations which were performed at about the same time.
On Saturday night they left their Victoria Park townhouse carrying identical white canes, wearing the same style of spectacles and
similar trousers with matching socks. They even wore colour matched underwear, the monogram on them being the only apparent
distinguishing feature between them.
Another day in the "big smoke" today. Picking up a new Kodak DC50 digital camera. We are currently expanding our offices
which we expect will involve the purchase of a neighbouring building. An overcast day with heavy mists today - warm after a cool night.
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