090830bostonglobefuneralKennedy funeral marked by solemnity and quiet pageantryBoston Globe

Taylor sings tribute to Kennedy – At the close of his Thursday night show at Tanglewood, singer James Taylor paused to deliver a heartfelt remembrance of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. He told the packed house that Kennedy, a former trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was an ardent fan of the music at Tanglewood and was instrumental in helping the BSO develop Seiji Ozawa Hall.  His remarks were a brief segue into “Shed a Little Light,” a song about Martin Luther King written in the early 1970s that was included in a recent CD commemorating Barack Obama’s inauguration – Boston Globe website

SUNDAY MORNING’S FRONT PAGES

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POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia

Bushfires

Brumby embraces fire reforms – The Brumby Government will tomorrow announce its decision to accept all 51 of the Bushfire Royal Commission’s recommendations, legislating this year to make neighbourhood ”safer places” compulsory in fire-prone areas and revamping its ”stay or go” policy – Melbourne Sunday Age

Forgotten Australians

‘Forgotten’ children to get formal apology – The Federal Government will formally say sorry to the hundreds of thousands of people who were abused and neglected as children after being placed in institutions or foster care – Melbourne Sunday Age

Leadership

Premier drowns sorrows with a lite on the hill – Premier Nathan Rees has gone in search of a little inspiration in Labor’s spiritual heartland. Yesterday, the leader downed a lite beer, or two, at the Coronation Hotel in Portland, near Bathurst – a district rich in ALP folklore – Sydney Sun Herald

Beef up Turnbull’s team – Glenn Milne writes in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph, tricky thing, reshuffles. Especially for Opposition Leaders.

Your Chance to question Premier Anna Bligh – Premier Anna Bligh could face a voter backlash over cronyism and corruption in a live online public debate this week – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Political life

For one night, the PM again – John Howard welcomed by those assembled at the Sydney Executive Business Lions Club charity dinner as a very special one of their own – Sydney Sun Herald

Brisbane travel bonanza for MPs – Federal MPs from today will receive more travel allowance to stay and eat in Brisbane than any other Australian capital city. The MPs will receive $364 per night to stay in Brisbane, $12 more than last year’s allowance. The next most expensive city is Sydney, where taxpayers fork out $356 per night – up $32 – for MPs’ stays – Sydney Sun Herald

Development

Call for ALP links inquiry after Keppel plan approval – There are calls for an inquiry after a billion-dollar tourism plan by a developer who used Labor Party-linked lobbyists has been fast-tracked – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Education

School leaving age to be lifted to 17 in VictoriaSunday Melbourne Age

VCE faces axe for national education certificate – A paper created by the newly formed Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority and obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun reveals the transition to new national subjects and standards. It reveals all state and federal education ministers have now made a commitment to introduce a kindergarten-to-year 12 national curriculum. Until now, a national curriculum has been planned only up to year 10 – Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

Foreign students

Slump in Indian student numbers – Indian student enrolments at Victoria’s universities are expected to plunge by up to 50 per cent next year following a spate of violent attacks in Melbourne – Sunday Melbourne Age

Cheating teenagers

L-plater lies in logbooks put practice rules in a spin – A third f young people surveyed by a NSW youth organisation have lied on their logbooks or plan to cheat on the requirement they complete the 120 hours of practice needed to earn a P-plate licence – Sydney Sun Herald

Safe sex

Teens warned on safe sex as infections rise – A surge in sexually transmissible infection rates has prompted the NSW Government to revive the safe-sex message for teenagers and young adults – Sydney Sun Herald

Rees wants to know your sexual history – The State Government is asking people to reveal how many sexual partners they’ve had in a confronting new campaign against sexually transmitted disease – Sydney Sunday Telegraph

Opinions

If you pay peanuts… – Melissa Fyfe argues in the Melbourne Sunday Age that talented people are opting out of political life because of the sacrifices it demands.

Destiny is never a sure thing – Paul Daley in the Sydney Sun Herald on the role of destiny in public life.

Rudd’s largesse a sign of the times for all to see – The Government has turned its stimulus building program into a long and shameless taxpayer-funded electoral advertisement, writes Michelle Grattan in the Sydney Sun Herald

A future free of UN meddling – Piers Akerman in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph explains why Australians should be grateful to United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous human rights James Anaya for the totally unrealistic picture he has painted of Australia’s Aborigines.

Elsewhere

Afghanistan

090830globeandmailTaliban claim victory over voteCanadian Globe and Mail

US wants 20,000 more troops to fight Taliban – British and American soldiers to shoulder brunt of surge’s next phase – The Independent

090830latimessomaliaSomalia

In Somalia, troops for peace end up at war – African Union soldiers contend with a vague and underfunded mission with no cease-fire to enforce. Among the troops who have died, some apparently succumbed to illness due to malnutrition – Los Angeles Times

Chechnya

Chechnya and Its Neighbors Suffer a Relapse – Explosions and shootings have been a daily occurrence in the region all summer. Between June and August, 436 people have been killed, compared with 150 during the same months in 2008. And the number of attacks jumped to 452 from 265, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private research group based in Washington – The New York Times

East Timor

Rift looms as Dili mourns dead – East Timor is under pressure to release an Indonesian citizen accused of leading one of the country’s worst massacres, as hundreds of East Timorese attended a ceremony yesterday remembering those who died in the fight for independence – Melbourne Sunday Age

Opinions

Is this the end of the age of our social cohesion? – Discrepancies in recent poll results may be a symptom of increasing fragmentation in Canadian society, rather than of any fault in the methods of data collection. It is harder to find a representative sample when people actually have less and less in common – Toronto Globe and Mail

BUSINESS

Hotels fight for survival – Of 30 hotels placed on the market in Queensland this year only a handful have sold, as brokers struggle to find buyers and buyers struggle to find lenders – Brisbane Sunday Mail

ENVIRONMENT

It’s not drought, it’s climate change, say scientists – Scientists studying Victoria’s crippling drought have, for the first time, proved the link between rising levels of greenhouse gases and the state’s dramatic decline in rainfall – Melbourne Sunday Age

Size trumps technology as big cars dent green gains – Australia’s enduring love affair with big cars means engine technology alone will not be enough to deliver necessary cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a government report has warned – Melbourne Sunday Age

MEDIA

James Murdoch targets BBC ‘land-grabbing’ – The BBC needs taming and a radical overhaul of regulation is crucial to securing the future of UK broadcasting, says James Murdoch, the chief executive and chairman of News Corporation – London Daily Telegraph

Screening the same old dreary story – Michael Coulter argues in the Melbourne Sunday Age that public funding removes the imperative to make films we want to watch.

Seven ‘sorry’ for Bulger ad – Channel Seven has been forced to apologise after using the horrific death of British toddler James Bulger to advertise its police drama City Homicide. The network used closed-circuit TV images of the two-year-old being abducted in a promotion for last Monday’s program, which was loosely based on the Bulger case. James’ mother, Denise Fergus, has criticised Seven’s decision to use the clip – Melbourne Sunday Age

LIFE

Obesity

Obese teenagers opt for surgeon’s knife to fight fat Melbourne Sunday Age

Law and order

Satellites catch out park perverts – Nine paroled pedophiles have been sent back to jail after a satellite tracking system found them loitering near schools and parks – Sydney Sunday Telegraph

Dogs

Breeders brace for howls of protest – An expose on the dark side of dog breeding is expected to incite outrage. Australia’s main body for pedigree dogs, the Australian National Kennel Council, has appointed a public relations officer to deal with media interest from a BBC documentary, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, scheduled to show on ABC1 on September 10 – Melbourne Sunday Age

Medicare

Medicare’s $1m doctors cash in – More than a thousand doctors claimed more than $1 million in Medicare benefits last year – with one GP alone claiming $1.4 million Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

The drink

Queensland bans vodka tubes – A trendy vodka drink called Go Tubes, that comes in a brightly coloured, toothpaste-like tube, has been banned in Queensland – Brisbane Sunday Mail