The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • 3

News 3 'cTlif Sjjbnru Porniwi irralb smhcomau Friday November 16 2001 Qantas sacks 2000 workers for Christmas La Spagnola's best actress nominee Lola Marceli with co-star Alex Dimitriades at yesterday's gathering of AFI Spanish Main AFI AWARD NOMINEES Darren Goodsir Transport Writer Qantas announced yesterday that up to 2000 of its 33000 workers would be forced to leave by Christmas and then confirmed it might have to defer the launch of its budget international carrier Australian Airlines because of the aviation dire outlook But the chief executive Geoff Dixon rejected claims he staged the cuts to bully unions into accepting a wage freeze Despite swallowing 93 per cent of the domestic market since its rival Ansett collapsed Mr Dixon said Qantas made 80 per cent of its profits on the vulnerable international sectors -and that cuts to flights routes and jobs were inevitable He said if Ansett had not been grounded up to 8000 jobs at Qantas would have been lost say we are very sorry to have to do Mr Dixon said would prefer not to put any people off at any time of the year certainly not around Christmas time But there will be a lot of people enjoying Christmas because Qantas is able to be a successful airline we are putting off between 1500 to 2000 there will be over 32000 people maintaining their jobs which by any stretch of the imagination in the airline industry today is an amazing From November 25 all flights to New York which need 55 per cent loads to break even will be cancelled For the past month only 20 per cent of seats on this sector have been sold There will be fewer flights to Rome Johannesburg Bangkok Manila and Buenos Aires and Paris services will now go via Frankfurt me tlight changes mean Qantas has reduced international capacity by 1 1 per cent in tiie past few months with a 2t per cent slump in bookings from japan and a 23 per cent fall British patronage Mr Dixon said Australian Airlines the low-cost carrier that was to start flying to Asian ports from April would still proceed despite the calamitous outlook Fox and Lew hinges on the Government relaxing the repayment demands on the $195 million they have provided for workers' entitlements Government officials continued assessing the Lew-Fox syndicate's bid yesterday Although the Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said he believed a deal could be put together the head of the Prime Minister's department Max Moore-Wilton has adhered to a hard-line stance on repayment of the $195 million Unions reacted angrily accusing Mr Dixon of timing the announcement to influence a hearing in the Industrial Relations Commission over a management drive to have an 18-month wage freeze proposed job cuts when record numbers of passengers are flying Qantas beggars belief for any reasonable the assistant national secretary Linda White said The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union called on the Prime Minister to hold a crisis summit to protect airline jobs Some of its members along with those belonging to the Australian Workers Union intend to strike for 48 hours from Monday Starshine Peter Phelps actor nominee Anthony LaPaglia with by Lantana The Ray Lawrence-directed drama has 13 nominations ahead of La Spagnola 111) Moulin Rouge (10) and The Bank (nine) Farinacci another newcomer said Lawrence drew strong performances from his cast by giving them room a very gentle director and he gives actors a lot of space He trusts an intuition and The president Denny nominees Photos: Wayne Taylor Andrew Gilbert Mullet Richard Roxburgh Moulin Rouge Best Supporting Actress Rachael Blake Lantana Daniela Farinacci Lantana Lourdes Bartolome La Spagnola Belinda McClory Mullet Best Original Screenplay Anna-Maria Monticelli La Spagnola David Caesar Mullet Robert Connolly The Bank Chris Anastassiades Yolngu Boy Best Screenplay Adapted from Another Source Richard Lovvenstein He Died With a Felafel in His Hand Andrew Boveil Lantana Daniel Keene Silent Partner Anne Kennedy The Monkey's Mask Herald's top tips in bold alone Liverpool star Craig Johnstone once said: soccer for Australia is like surfing for But with names that are known throughout the soccer world such as Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka wearing the Australian colours that opinion has gone out of date Until Australia qualifies for the World Cup however the game will struggle to make the outstanding players this country produces household names in their own land For the next 11 days at least the spotlight will be on the Socceroos The 95000 tickets for the first leg in Melbourne are almost sold out and the TV audi ence is expected to exceed the 17 million who saw 1-1 draw with world champions France on Sunday night Then will come the return leg in Uruguay a match that will determine whether soccer takes a bold step into the Australian sporting mainstream or skulks away to lick its wounds for an other four years The final hurdle Page 38 "I never imagined coming to Australia" Cinema Garry Maddox Film Writer A touch of glamour with a distinctly Spanish flavour arrived in the country yesterday Only hours off the plane Spanish actors Lola Marceli and Lourdes Bartolome joined the nominees lunch before Australian Film Institute awards in Melbourne Both feature in the low-budget film La Spagnola about a feisty Spanish arrival in Australia in the 1960s Also smiling for a thousand media cameras were fellow nominees Anthony LaPaglia Rachael Blake Vince Colosimo and Daniela Farinacci from Lan-tana Alex Dimitriades from La Spagnola and Belinda McClory from Mullet Marceli and Lourdes said how unexpected it was being cast in an Australian film never imagined coming to Marceli said Being nominated for best actress in a field that also includes Nicole Kidman Kerry Armstrong and newcomer Alice Ansara was very The awards are expected to be dominated in the film categories the strong junior participation rates in Australia reignite interest in the flagging National Soccer League and challenge the established football codes Getting to the World Cup to be hosted by Japan and South Korea is a deadly difficult task however Relative giants like the Netherlands the Czech Republic and Colombia have all failed Thanks to a qualification process that does not grant direct entry for the champion of the Oceania region Australia must once again try to beat a team from the other side of the planet with a rich football heritage Uruguay who finished fifth in the South American qualification series after a 1-1 draw with Argentina yesterday won World Cups in 1930 and 1950 More than half their squad plays for teams in Italy and Spain two of the most competitive leagues Yet as strange as it once might have seemed Australia will start slight favourites despite their unfortunate record in qualifying matches including the disaster Do it for us this time Harry and never walk Prisoner leaps through glass for brief escape Pilots side with The Ansett pilots consortium ANStaff formally withdrew from the battle to buy the distressed airline yesterday on the eve of their scheduled presentation to creditors ANStaff will now support Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew The committee of creditors representing those owed more than $2 billion heard Mr Lew and Mr Fox personally outline their plans to operate a full-service airline with 4000 workers Their proposal however but its launch could be delayed would not start an airline in the midst of a major he said cannot predict the future on how long the downturn in this industry is going to go on for" Staff will initially be encouraged to leave but forced redundancies will occur with workers also being urged to take holidays and leave without pay Job sharing is also being pushed by management to cut costs and some overseas staff will return to Australia in an across-the-board strategy The job cuts were announced to staff in an email prompting 300 members of the Australian Services Union to hold stopwork meetings at Melbourne airport court on charges of grievous bodily harm shoot to inflict grievous bodily harm and wounding with intent to murder relating an attack on a man 36 at Glebe on March 23 After leaving the dock Etienne ran 20 metres through the court foyer chased by prison and sheriff officers before jumping through the frosted-glass door Outside he broke free from two officers leaving them with his torn singlet ran down Liverpool Street and forced two people out of a Ford sedan The vehicle was abandoned at the Pyrmont fish markets Police received reports of a bleeding semi-naked man running over the Anzac Bridge and Marathon effort the injured man was found in a stormwater drain in Annandale Photo: Edwina Pickles patrol cars and a helicopter searched Balmain The next sighting was outside Rozelle Hospital Etienne then ran to Lilyfield where Linus Taylor a resident walking his dog saw him hiding under a tree in the overgrown front garden of a home in Brennan Street at 1230 pm By then Etienne had a dark wind jacket and had wrapped his cut arm in a garbage bag Mr Taylor spoke to Etienne briefly: he turned around I saw the back of his shirt was covered in Mr Taylor said he then turned faway briefly and when he looked back the man had gone Best Film Lantana Moulin Rouge The Bank The Dish Best Direction Ray Lawrence Lantana Baz Luhrmann Moulin Rouge David Caesar Mullet Robert Connolly The Bank Best Actor Anthony LaPaglia Lantana David Wenham The Bank Ewan McGregor Moulin Rouge Ben Mendelsohn Mullet Best Actress Alice Ansara La Spagnola Kerry Armstrong Lantana Nicole Kidman Moulin Rouge Lola Marceli La Spagnola Best Supporting Actor Vince Colosimo Lantana Alex Dimitriades La Spagnola 5 Uruguay Photo: Vince Caligiuri cause a nation that once would have been considered the Eric the Eel or Jamaican bobsledders of soccer is now recognised as a world force The Australian-born former It's a bit like life The denser you are the further up you go' CSIRO scientist KURT LIFFMAN 19 Oxford with friend Donna Fowkes and best his wife Gia Carides Lawrence said there was an extraordinary mix of films at this awards As well as Lantana Moulin Rouge The Bank and The Dish are up for best film think of a year when there has been four films so diverse in nature genre and budget a really hard pick almost apples and LaPaglia nominated for best actor said it felt like the beginning of a new age of Australian have been preparing at home while the Uruguayans were forced to board a plane for Melbourne barely three hours after their match against Argentina But more than that it is be denser you are the further up you Dr Liffman and CSIRO colleague Dr Guy Metcalfe have invented a newly patented device that separates particles according to size and density This Rotary Classifier is expected to be worth $100 million in the Australian market with applications in many industries He said research on how granular materials behave was important for agriculture and mining where for example the flow of grain or cement from a hopper could block up if the design was wrong The food and pharmaceutical industries also faced problems that a mixture of differently sized ingredients could separate as it bounced along the conveyor belt Within striking distance again Socceroo star Harry Kewell prepares to face Richard Hinds The fixture for what is potentially one of the most important weeks in Australian sports history was set yesterday It was the day Uruguay emerged as- the opponent in the two-legged World Cup qualifier to be played in Melbourne on Tuesday and Montevideo the following Sunday As the Socceroos failed to get past teams such as Scotland Israel Argentina and heartbreakingly Iran in their previous attempts to qualify inability to add to their one World Cup appearance in 1974 has developed into a full-blown hoodoo But more than that it has become a stumbling block to the predominant football code taking a major place in the Australian market By claiming the 32nd and last place in the World Cup which boasts a greater global television audience than the Olympics the Socceroos are expected to boost Friction Deborah Smith Science Writer the reason Brazil nuts always sit on top when you open a tin of mixed nuts at Christmas Or why the first serve of muesli from a packet is full of big bits and the last is a bowl of dust Dubbed the nut by scientists it might even explain the surprising discovery that the asteroid Eros has lots of giant boulders sitting on its surface The phenomenon that shaking a mixture of particles causes the largest ones to rise to the top rather than the bottom is a big problem for the food and pharmaceutical industries It has puzzled researchers for 70 years A new study suggests the speed at which the Brazil nut Les Kennedy and Lee Glendinning A prisoner facing attempted murder charges was recaptured after a 3 Vi-hour chase through inner Sydney yesterday when he escaped from Central Local Court by diving through a glass panel door When tracked by a police dog inside a stormwater drain in Annandale Paul Etienne 30 was found unconscious due to massive blood loss from cuts to his left arm hand and nose Last night he was in the Silverwater jail medical unit after being treated at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Etienne of Rvde had run what one officer described as a marathon effort before hiding 120 metres inside a stormwater drain near Wisdom Street The escape bid the third in four months from Central Local Court 1 came after the prisoner dock area was refurbished to prevent such incidents Two-metre glass panels were built on all four sides of the dock which prisoners enter via stairs from underground cells But a small door to let guards enter from the court was not barred in the upgrade Etienne jumped through this gap when he escaped at 1130 am He was before the and pressure driving them nuts BerkelouW Books Street Paddington PRE XMAS SALE against Iran in 1997 when they blew a 2-0 lead with fewer than 20 minutes to play in the final leg at the MCG That favouritism is partly based on the fact the Australians what is he said The theory that would seem most obvious to an ordinary nut or muesli eater is that the little particles can fall down into little voids created under the larger particles by vertical shaking Research has shown this is too simplistic Dr Liffman said There are other forces at play Friction between the walls of the container and nearby particles causes a downward flow This convection forces particles in the middle upwards including the big ones that end up caught on top Dr research has also shown that the greater the relative density of a big particle like a heavy steel ball amid lighter glass beads the faster it rises a bit like he joked 20 OFF ALL BOOKS Sat 17th Sun 18th November 930am Midnight Three floors over 100000 new and secondhand books including latest releases on sale this weekend only! For more information call 02 9360 3200 Rare books not included wends its way upwards depends not only on the size of the other nuts but also on the air pressure in the tin Physicists at the University of Chicago watched the progress not of a big nut but of a lead-loaded acrylic ball in a cylinder filled with little glass beads Their air pressure finding was published yesterday in one of the leading scientific journals Nature But it is too soon to shout the nut problem is say other experts A CSIRO scientist Kurt Liffman said the latest finding was interesting the controversy will continue Despite 70 years of research just at the beginning of understanding 2.