benign

adj. non-malignant; favorable; kind, gentle; compassionate

"Generally speaking, the economy is in pretty good shape, having focused away from strength in housing and the consumer, and the inflationary range is pretty benign," Dr Oliver said.

[ Rates steady this year but watch out in 2006 ]

subsidy

n. financial assistant

Mr Bracks ruled out using GST revenue to subsidise fuel prices and said Queensland's eight-cent fuel subsidy had been a long-standing and unique arrangement.


[ Petrol pain won't hurt services: Bracks ]

prosperity

The housing debt binge is still one of the main threats to the nation's prosperity even though house prices are stagnant and borrowing growth has slowed, the Reserve Bank says.
...
The ratio of household debt to income has reached a record 150 per cent - one of the highest in the world - and the ratio of house prices to disposable income is also very high by historical and international standards.

The share of households with debt secured on their home is rising, having jumped from less than 30 per cent in the mid-1990s to 36 per cent.
...
The average new home loan has more than doubled, from $99,000 in 1996 to $215,000, and the ratio of the average new home loan to household income has risen by 50 per cent to be more than three times the annual income of the average family.


[ Is household debt getting worse? ]

adversity

n. misfortune, hardship; distress, suffering

"We turned adversity into advantage and found CLP," Mr Willis said. "It (the Federal Government's MRET policy) forced us to look further afield."

[ Joint plan for $1.5bn in wind generation ]

subversive

The communist government encourages internet use for education and business but keeps an extremely tight rein over online content, usually blocking material it deems subversive or pornographic.

[ China moves to control internet content ]

dogma

n. 教條 (disapproving)

"The managerial regime that we live in now has got so much invested in the dogma of racial equality that they're prepared to prevent any challenge to it," the Canadian-born academic said.
...
But Dr Fraser said Deakin was using the laws to cut down, rather than defend academic freedom. Dr Fraser has also written to the National Tertiary Education Union seeking its support for his claim against Deakin for breach of contract.

[ Academic attacks race article ban ]

profiteer

n. 獲暴利的人, 奸商
v. 牟取暴利

The federal government may directly check the profit margins of oil refining companies if Australia's competition watchdog fails to prevent profiteering in the industry, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

[ PM threatens to screen fuel refinery profits ]

quarantine

n. 隔離; 隔離區; 檢疫; 檢疫所

THE Federal Government has admitted Australia's quarantine system could have been wrecked by a controversial court case involving pork imports.

[ Government urges pork producers to drop legal push ]

strangle

strangle: v. choke to death, throttle by compressing the windpipe and preventing the intake of air, asphyxiate; stifle, suppress

Lorelle Makin, 48, had been due to meet a client at the house in Melton at lunchtime yesterday, but last night the mother-of-two was found strangled in a bathroom of the vacant two-storey home


[ Man charged over strangling ]

snit

snit : fit of rage or bad temper (Aussie slang)

After 45 minutes of heated discussion, the meeting ended badly, at least according to Bustamante's camp, who report Macfarlane left the room "in a snit" after he didn't hear what he wanted to hear.

[ BHP has California on its mind ]

convene

convene : v. assemble; gather

"Well, if they collectively can control the supply of world crude oil, if they collectively can do something to bring down the price of world crude oil, I'll convene a weekend meeting of the Council of Australian Government to take their advice."

[ 'Something funny' as petrol hits $1.48 ]

deliberation

Jury begins deliberations in Hookes trial

begins deliberations : start negotiations, begin talks
deliberation : careful consideration; discussion, formal consultation
deliberate : adj. carefully considered, intentional; slow, unhurried, methodical
v. discuss, debate; carefully consider

spike

The Australian dollar spiked while bond prices fell after the jobs report came in much stronger than expected.

At 1129 AEST the Australian dollar was trading at 76.68 US cents and by 1133 AEST it had risen to 76.84 US cents.

At 1129 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange the September 2005 10-year bond futures contract price was at 94.86 and by 1133 AEST it had fallen to 94.835.

At 1129 AEST the three-year bond futures contract price was at 94.92 and by 1133 AEST it had fallen to 94.89.

[ Unemployment steady at 5%: ABS ]

plunge into

plunge into : leap into, throw oneself in with enthusiasm

As a property investor, Mr Crew, 32, is quite a success story. He owns two other investment properties - a one-bedroom apartment in Richmond that is rented, and a display house in Berwick he has leased to the builder at 8 per cent.

Mr Crew, who works in an accounts office and lives with his parents, says he has been lucky because he has always had tenants. Buoyed by his experiences, he is now considering another plunge into real estate.

[ Bargain hunters back in the market ]

vendetta

Google has depicted Microsoft's lawsuit as a form of intimidation designed to thwart a fast-growing rival that has emerged as a formidable threat to the software maker.

The Lucovsky declaration is just one piece of evidence that Google has filed in an attempt to prove that Microsoft is on a vendetta.

lag

v. fall behind, fail to keep up with the established pace, straggle; develop slowly; linger, tarry; slacken, flag, weaken; imprison (British Slang); insulate (from heat)

jet lag : feeling of exhaustion and disorientation caused by travelling between time zones

...
An ABN Amro analyst, Felicity Emmett, said the price correction would continue to hamper growth in NSW, which already lags the national average
...
Recent price falls have already dragged some Sydney suburb median house prices below the $1 million mark, according to research by the housing analysis firm Residex, including Waverley, Narrabeen, Strathfield and Yowie Bay.
...

[ Harder they fall: Sydney's biggest housing slump ]

calls

n. visits

SHIPPING lines will be forced to start reducing calls to Melbourne within five years if channel deepening does not go ahead, the peak shipping body has warned.

[ Case for deep thinking to save Melbourne as port ]

choke

"The budget is in surplus, government debt is close to zero, the unemployment rate is at a 28-year low and inflation and interest rates are at low levels."

Economists are now warning that the risks of a sudden economic slowdown are rising, particularly if surging global oil prices choke profitability, consumer spending and world growth.

Oil prices have more than tripled over the past four years, from around $US18 a barrel in November 2001 to a record $US70 yesterday. In the past year alone they have increased by 60 per cent.

[ Our interest bill soars to $16 billion ]

freak

adj. strange, odd, unusual


THE wind was ferocious and staff at the Snowy River camp- site where 12 schoolgirls were preparing for the first night of a 10-day rafting adventure were not taking any chances.

The McKillops Bridge site in East Gippsland was inspected to ensure that tents were pitched properly and "that the girls would be camping as safely as possible".

But the weather didn't improve — wind gusts exceeded 90 km/h — and about 2.30am yesterday, tragedy struck. Toorak College student Alice Sloan, 16, of Mount Martha, was in her tent when the rivergum's branch came down.

She was killed instantly. Another girl sleeping beside her survived without injury.

[ Schoolgirl, 16, killed in freak accident ]