Cloud clearing with a top of 31 degrees.

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Hospital in chaos over new booking system

Staff at one of Melbourne's largest hospital networks say a new computerised booking system has wreaked havoc over the past year, causing untold distress for vulnerable people and putting lives at risk.

Senior Austin Health employees have told Fairfax Media that the new Patient Choice Booking service at the Austin Hospital and Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre has caused scores of patients to miss crucial appointments with specialists responsible for their care.

This included seriously ill patients, such as organ transplant recipients, cancer patients and those with infectious diseases such as TB and HIV who needed to be seen at particular times to receive continuing tests, medications and other treatment.

When the system was introduced last May, hospital management cancelled about 49,000 future patient bookings with specialist doctors and sent these patients letters advising them of the cancellations and a new booking system.

International Court of Justice upholds Australia's bid to ban Japanese whaling in Antarctica

The International Court of Justice has upheld Australia's bid to ban Japan's Antarctic whaling program. 

ICJ president Peter Tomka said the court concluded the scientific permits granted by Japan for its whaling program were not scientific research as defined under International Whaling Commission rules.

Mr Tomka said in The Hague that the court was persuaded that Japan had conducted a program for logistical and political considerations, rather than scientific research.

The court unanimously found it had jurisdiction to hear the case, and by 12 votes to four found that special permits granted by Japan in connection with the program, JARPA II, did not fall within the IWC convention.

It therefore ordered that Japan revoke any scientific permit under JARPA II and refrain from granting any further permits.

On Monday Japan said it would respect the ruling despite "deep disappointment" with the landmark decision.

1. Who produced the creepy movie "Poltergeist"?

2. Which creamy cheese comes from Haute Savoie?

3. Diana Abbot became Britain's first black woman to serve as what?

4. What was the third film to win 11 Oscars?

5. Rafik Hariri was killed in a bomb attack in which city?

Answers:

1. Stephen Spielberg

2. Reblochon

3. MP 4

4. Lord of the Rings: Retrun of the King

5. Beirut

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze over completely.

If today is your big day, happy birthday! 

You share a birthday with Abbe Prevost, French writer and journalist (1697-1763); Prince Otto von Bismarck, German statesman (1815-1898); Sir Paul Hasluck, former Australian governor-general (1905-1993); Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican singer; Lachy Hulme, Australian actor; Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player; John Butler, US-Australian singer and musician.

1204 - Death of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France and England, who led troops in the Second Crusade.

1917 - Death of Scott Joplin, US jazz musician famous for his ragtime pieces, notably The Entertainer.

1939 - Spanish Civil War ends with Nationalist victory, one million dead and a 36-year dictatorship.

1955 - Hobart becomes the first Australian city to introduce parking meters.

1976 - Direct dialling from Australia to overseas countries becomes available with OTC and Telecom introducing the ISD service in Sydney; Death of German painter and sculptor Max Ernst, a founding member of the Dada group.

1984 - US soul singer Marvin Gaye is shot dead by his father during a violent row.

1987 - In his first major speech on the AIDS epidemic, US President Ronald Reagan declares the disease "public health enemy number one".

2002 - Euthanasia becomes legal in the Netherlands a year after parliament voted to make it the first country to permit mercy killing.

2011 - Afghans angry over the burning of Koran in the US storm a UN compound in northern Afghanistan, killing seven foreigners including four Nepalese guards.

Why didn't the skeleton cross the road? Because he had no guts.

Have a great day,

Hannah