News: 2011 was the year of Adele

The year of Adele

The highest-selling album of 2011 in Australia? Adele’s 21. The British singer’s album claimed the top spot of the 2011 ARIA Top 100 Album Chart after it spent a total of 23 weeks at Number 1 and more than sold 800,000 copies. The biggest selling single of the year was LMFAO’s Part Rock Album. Gotye was the highest ranked Australian act – his single Somebody That I Used to Know was Number 2 on the list and album Making Mirrors came in at Number 4 on the albums chart.

For the top 20 albums, click through the gallery below.

Earthquakes shake Christchurch again

A series of aftershocks have hit Christchurch overnight, the largest of which measured magnitude 5.5. More than 10,000 people have been left without power after nine aftershocks hit the city since midnight. Christchurch is still recovering after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck in February last year and killed 182 people.

Molly Meldrum recovering after spinal surgery

Music industry icon Molly Meldrum has undergone another surgery to repair several fractured vertebrae, caused by his fall from a ladder two weeks ago. His brother Brian said surgeons at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital completed the two hour operation yesterday. He said the surgery would be the last Molly would have to undergo and that his future mobility will now be “as good as gold”. Molly could move out of intensive care and into a trauma ward next week.

Tax breaks for families with kids at school

Low-income families could gain up to $160 extra a fortnight under an extension of the Family Tax Benefit, announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday. The benefit will now cover students aged between 16 and 19 who live at home and are still at school or are undertaking vocational training. It replaces an old system which assumed young people left school at 16 and got a job. Ms Gillard said she hoped the increase – which was first unveiled in the May 2011 budget – would help keep students at school.

Cyber-bully victims more likely to bully in the outside world

Ten per cent of all children have been cyber-bullied, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph. The report also suggests cyber-bullying, such as comments on social networking sites, is leading to hate messages and physical violence. Professor Donna Cross from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, who has been enlisted by the NSW Department of Education and Communities to educate students and families about online behaviour, said children who cyber-bullied were 18 times more likely to bully others in the real world.

What do you think the solution to cyber-bullying is?

1980’s cabinet papers released

Cabinet papers from 1982 and 1983 released by the National Archives over the weekend show some interesting secrets from the Fraser Government’s last year in power and Bob Hawke’s subsequent first year as Prime Minister. The papers have revealed the Hawke Government considered banning all uranium exports, which would have brought an end to uranium mining in Australia, but decided the ban would be too costly. The papers also detail policy compromises on issues such as the East Timor and ANZUS alliance and suggest both Liberal treasurer John Howard and Labor treasurer Paul Keating considered GST-type service taxes.

Is there anything you’ve noticed in the news and want to talk about?