Deal or no deal

New guidelines aim to make the cost of buying a car more transparent. ANDREW HEASLEY reports. Everyone loves a bargain but nobody likes to be taken for a sucker. Yet its hard not to feel youve been taken for one if youve been lured into a car yard or showroom by a low price, only to be disappointed to find the cars "just been sold" or costs thousands of dollars more to match the one pictured, or theres the old "plus, plus, plus..." to put the car on the road. Buying a TV or washing machine is a fairly straightforward process, with advertised prices largely matching the outofpocket expense, but as car buyers will know, when it comes to four wheels its not that simple. Theres frequently a disparity between what you think youre up for and what you pay when you sign the contract. Sometimes the financial surprises come long after signing. Beyond a cars recommended retail price (including the Federal Governments GST amount), theres a long list of extra costs such as the State Governments stamp duty, the dealers "delivery fees", and the onroad costs of VicRoads registration and the Transport Accident Commissions compulsory thirdparty insurance. Add in complex financing and leasing arrangements, generally a mix of upfront, recurring and end payments, encompassed in obfuscating legalese, and it can be a quagmire for the unwary. Advertisement: Story continues below Meantime, car ads vigorously compete for consumers attentions, some seeking to lure buyers with discounted prices, some with allin driveaway prices, others with stunning headline prices, but with the devil in the asterisked fine print. Its an issue that the countrys competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, began reviewing two years ago, taking in the views of car makers, dealers, marketeers and consumer advocacy groups to frame new guidelines governing how new and usedcar prices are advertised. The guidelines, finalised in November but just launched publicly last week, are aimed at making the costs in car buying more apparent to Rosetta Stone consumers and eradicating misleading and deceptive conduct by the car industry. "Always in advertising, the representation to the public of price a true and honest representation is very important," said ACCC commissioner John Martin, who headed the review. The result, the Automotive Advertising Guidelines price advertising in the motor vehicle industry, sets rules governing the way prices are presented. Mr Martin warns that a headline prices asterisk and fine print may not be enough to satisfy the new guidelines. In the guidelines sights are the way prices are represented in advertisements, disclaimers, discounts including "below cost" claims, photos used in ads, socalled "bait advertising" and cash rebates. Be warned, though: even with advertisements that comply with the new code, theres still plenty of guesswork involved for conscientious consumers who want to compare deals or establish what it will cost in full to drive out of the showroom let alone figure how much negotiating room they have on their side. The guidelines arent law, the ACCC says. Rather, theyre plain English recommendations based on the commissions interpretations of court rulings of what actions constitute misleading or deceptive conduct under the Trade Practices Act. Theyve been boiled down to how car prices in ads should be presented to consumers so as to be clear, unambiguous and accurate. The advertised prices must state the total price required to take delivery of the vehicle. That includes "all mandatory components" of the price that can be quantified; that is, stamp duty and dealer delivery costs. What doesnt have to be specified, the ACCC says, are the "onroad costs": registration and compulsory third party insurance. "The ACCC does not see ... (on road costs) ... as mandatory components," it says. Its a somewhat curious stance after all, how many people buy a car without intending to register it or drive it on the road?

NY Times selling radio station for 45 mln dlrs

The New York Times Co., which has been seeking to raise cash to pay down its debt, announced plans on Tuesday to sell a New York City radio station for 45 million US dollars. The Times Co. said it is selling WQXRFM, a station which plays classical music, to WNYC Radio, the largest public radio station in the United States, and Spanishlanguage broadcaster Univision Radio. The complicated sale, under which WNYC will eventually operate WQXR, requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, if approved, is expected to close in the second half of the year. Advertisement: Story continues below The Times Co. said that under the deal, the radio station would retain its classical music format. "WQXR is the nation's preeminent classical music station," Times Co. president and chief executive Janet Robinson said in a statement. "We are very pleased that this transaction will preserve WQXR's ability to serve New York City's classical music audience and its cultural institutions as a public radio station," she said. Like other US newspapers, the Times has been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online. The Times Co. is currently entertaining bids for the Boston Globe, which it purchased for 1.1 billion US dollars in 1993, and is also seeking to sell another Massachusetts Rosetta Stone Italian paper, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. The Times Co. recently completed a saleleaseback deal for part of its Manhattan headquarters and received a 250milliondollar loan from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. The Times is also seeking a buyer for its 17.75 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team and their iconic stadium, Fenway Park. Gibbs said Obama's talks in China would focus on regional and global issues, including security, nonproliferation, energy issues and climate change. The president will wrap up his visit to Asia in Seoul, South Korea, between November 18 and 19, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. North Korea's nuclear challenge and the US nuclear alliance will dominate talks between Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak. While in South Korea, Obama will also meet US service members from the US garrison monitoring the uneasy Cold War truce with Stalinist North Korea. There had been expectations that Obama would travel this year to Indonesia, where he spent part of his childhood after his divorced mother married an Indonesian. Gibbs said that Obama met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh last month, and the two leaders agreed that it made most sense for the visit to take place next year. "They agreed on the importance of having a visit that would showcase the importance of a growing USIndonesian bilateral relations," Gibbs said. Obama's childhood connection and his knowledge of a few words of the Indonesian language have made him hugely popular in the country of 234 million people, 90 per cent of whom are Muslim.

Jets' Zura jets home to Ecuador

The struggling Newcastle Jets are considering chasing an interim marquee player after a homesick Edmundo Zura dramatically returned to Ecuador. The defending ALeague champions are picking up the pieces after the Ecuadorian international delivered a tearful farewell following the 21 loss to Queensland on Sunday night. Zura, signed as the Jets marquee player on a oneyear loan deal, asked for a contract termination due to offfield reasons. Advertisement: Story continues below But after failing to deliver on the park in a goalless and maligned threemonth stint, where he lasted the full 90 minutes in just three of his nine starts, his departure won't be mourned by the Jets. The 25yearold could no longer cope being away from his homeland and family including his wife and fouryearold son and organised his flight independently. "We can understand that he misses his homeland, his family, and the way of life that he is comfortable with," said Jets chief executive John Tsatsimas. "It's not easy to travel to another country and settle immediately, particularly when there is such a large language barrier there. "So we would not stand in his way in returning to Ecuador, which is where Rosetta Stone Software he wants to be." Coach Gary van Egmond and newlyappointed highperformance manager Ian Crook, who coached Newcastle Utd in the old NSL, are reviewing whether to replace Zura with a marquee player or shortterm guest star. The writing was on the wall for Zura when the Jets announced fellow striker Joel Griffiths as next season's marquee man. As a marquee player, Zura's contract is not included in the salary cap so the club can either chase another star signing or merely stick with their current squad and promote youth players. Zura, who debuted for Ecuador in 2006 and captained them to victory at last year's Pan American Games, ran out of patience waiting for his family to join him in Newcastle following a visa holdup. Ironically, he decided to return home as papers from South America finally arrived, paving the way for them to settle in Australia. But his interpreter had made the club aware before the weekend of his plans as he struggled to come to terms with the lifestyle. The pressure was building on Zura before Sunday's home defeat which saw the defending premiers fall to equal second last, five points out of the top four. Teammates revealed Zura was in tears after the game, which included a disallowed headed early goal for being offside, when he told some of his decision. His loss and the continued absence of a quartet of Young Socceroos players leaves the Jets with a bare 15 of their senior squad. National U19 striker Jason Naidovski will come into contention when he returns next week as the Jets are also battling up front with Jason Hoffman sidelined for the season with a knee injury. Veteran midfielder Noel Spencer is also facing the prospect of seasonending surgery needed to fix a wearandtear ankle problem.

I find myself in a window seat on the right

What helps, too, is that like Disneyworld and unlike parts ofthe countries that surround it it's clean, safe and everybody iswonderfully, genuinely, smilingly nice. Perhaps those allusions toShangriLa aren't too wide of the mark. Before all this, though, you have to get there. And most peopledo this through Nepal. After meeting my tour group and stayingovernight in a Kathmandu hotel room seemingly last used by a teamof Olympic chainsmokers, we have a 6am start and a queue to getinto the airport. Here, under the gaze of a soldier with one hand on his gun andthe other halfway up his left nostril (why am I deeply worriedabout an armed man who picks his nose?) we are searched. Andsearched again. And then searched again on the tarmac, where wealso have to individually identify our luggage before it can beloaded onto the jet waiting patiently nearby. Many people in the queue are clutching the Bhutanese bible, akathe Lonely Planet guide to Bhutan, which would explain the suddenand unseemly rush to get onto the aircraft. "The Druk Air flightfrom Kathmandu to Paro provides the most dramatic view of Himalayanscenery of any scheduled flight," it says, before adding theparanthesised advice to "get a window seat on the left if youcan". I find myself in a window seat on the right. Even so,the flight is spectacular, especially when those on the lefthandside get tired of gawping at stunning, snowcovered mountains andmove their big fat heads so you can see the peaks passingby almost near enough to touch. Over there, standing grandly abovethe rest, is Everest. Descending into the town of Paro above a winding valley of greenhillsides corrugated by rice paddies, we can see below us scattereddwellings and farm houses with shining, corrugated iron roofspatchworked with bright red squares of chillies drying in the sun Rosetta Stone .Chillies are a staple of the Bhutanese diet and, in the countrysideat least, there is rarely a house that does not sport a splash ofscarlet or, more occasionally, yellow. Finally, we burst out of the valley and into the wide, broadplain that houses Paro, a small and loose conglomeration ofbuildings on either side of a wide, shallow river lined with willowtrees. Squatting like a castle on a hill above a bend in the riveris the white vastness of Paro dzong, amonasterycumcastlecummuseum. Below the dzong is a wooden bridgewhich we visit on the way to the hotel and which, when we getthere, is being used by an old woman and her cow. We watch as shestops to turn the prayer wheels at either end before continuing.It's stunning. Now I know how Alice felt. Paro is the second largest town in the country, and you can walkthrough its quaint main street, its colourful shops hung every fewmetres with bundles of bright red, drying chillies, and be out theother side in five minutes. Thimpu, the notquitesosedatecapital, is 53 kilometres away to the east across the 4000metrehigh ranges. In Thimphu a few years ago they installed the country's firstset of traffic lights and then promptly took them out againbecause people didn't think them friendly. That particular junctionis, once again, ruled over by a whitegloved policeman who directstraffic from a covered podium in the middle, like an orchestraconductor with a hard hat. This is very much a metaphor for what's happening in Bhutan asit walks a tightrope stretched between the almost medieval societyit was a mere 80 years ago and the 21st century. As such, you canvisit the national library in Thimphu and look at dusty scrollswhile a couple of redrobed monks wait their turn to surf theinternet. Bhutan is often likened to Switzerland because of itssnowdusted mountain ranges and the pitched roofs of the houses.There, thank goodness, the comparison stops. Switzerland was neverthis colourful.

Jason Akermanis, a colourful life

Click for more photos The Akermanis era Aker almost unadorned, 1995. Photo: Allsport The story of Jason Akermanis is as colourful as any of the controversies he has involved himself with via the media, and would have been fascinating if he had never pulled on a pair of football boots. He was born on Feburary 24 1977, to Shona Carswell, a Queensland native who had travelled to Mildura with her brother seeking work picking fruit. At the time she was married to John Akermanis, but that relationship faltered, and the homesick Canadian had returned to the northern hemisphere before the pregnancy was revealed. It later emerged that Shona had an affair with a married Mildura mechanic, Denis, and he was the father of Jason and his brother, Rory, who was born in 1979. Advertisement: Story continues below Jason Akermanis with captain Brad Johnson yesterday at Bulldogs training. Photo: Vince Caligiuri Shona struggled to raise her two boys as a single mum, originally working in a local car dealership and living in a caravan. Jason first played football as a sevenyearold, for the South Mildura under11s, at Sarah Oval, stunning coach Gordon "Mr C" Casey, when he starred against much bigger, stronger opponents in his first match. Shona took her young family back to Queensland in 1986, and Akermanis excelled playing for Mayne, a natural footballer playing in a rugby leaguedominated region. He was never scared to stand out. When he was 13, Akermanis discovered that he was not the son of John Akermanis, as he had been led to believe. At 14, he suffered depression, and says he contemplated suicide, after a serious accident whilst rollerblading led to a stint in intensive care with a blood clot on the brain. With the support of his mother, he resumed his exuberant ways, taking a year off Aussie Rules, and excelling at athletics, winning a sports scholarship to the prestigious Nudgee College, the strongest rugby union school in Queensland. He was mocked for carrying a Sherrin, but became dux of his class. Often impulsive, but never stupid Rosetta Stone , Akermanis was very proud of this achievement. In his final year at school, and first for the Brisbane Bears, in 1995, Jason's mother became seriously ill with brain cancer, and she died, aged only 41, in 1997. He earned the nickname 'Akermaniac' from his AFL teammates at this time, but apart from some speeding fines, Akermanis was never in serious trouble, and it was his attentionseeking flamboyance, not any major infractions, that caught the attention. Intensely competitive, dedicated to training and improving his skills, Akermanis developed quickly as a pacy backman under coaches Robert Walls, John Northey, and Leigh Matthews. Lions psychologist Phil Jauncey was also a key influence, and became an enduring confidante. By the time the Lions became a superteam, at the turn of the millennium, Akermanis was an elite onballer, his speed, twosided skills, and brilliant goalkicking making him a cog of the powerful Brisbane midfield, featuring Simon Black, Michael Voss and Luke Power. He was also turning his love of the limelight into a media career, with a radio program, newspaper column, and TV appearances. At the height of his powers, he suggested a stint playing rugby was on his mind. Off the field, Jason had met speech pathologist Megan, who became his wife in 2001, and had begun to learn sign language in order to converse with her hearing impaired parents. He also learnt Spanish, played chess and utilised a "power breathing device" and an ideas whiteboard in his house. Akermanis was clearly a unique footballer, but at this stage, with honours arriving, including a Brownlow medal (2001) two club best and fairest awards, four AllAustralian berths, and three premierships (2001, 2002, 2003), his eccentricites were tolerated. However, rifts developed, as Jason's occasionally tactless utterances in the press infuriated coach club officials and teammates. A sad impasse had developed by 2006, Akermanis blaming it in part on two players snubbing an invitation to his wedding in 2001. But it was the unwelcome frankness of Akermanis opinions about upcoming opponents, and the form of the declining Lions, that caused most grief for his peers.

Truth and fiction

Peter Temple Photo: Dallas Kilponen This year's Miles Franklin Award winner Peter Temple has redefined the literary boundaries of crime writing. He spoke to Jason Steger about why anything goes. WHEN Peter Temple first won a Ned Kelly award for crime writing, it was for his debut novel, Bad Debts. On a Saturday afternoon in a smoky Prahran bar, Temple was chuffed to accept ''the Nobel for crime fiction, novice division''. That was 13 years ago and the novice has become the master. Not only has he collected another four Neds, but he also picked up the big one at the 2007 British Crime Writers' Association awards, the Duncan Lawrie Dagger, for The Broken Shore. The Ballarat-based writer has won so many Neds that he has decided that his most recent novel, Truth, should not be considered for this year's prizes. ''To clear some small space for the many talented crime writers who haven't won a Ned or been shortlisted.'' But it was only the Neds he was worried about; there was no mention of the Miles Franklin. On Tuesday night Temple followed in the footsteps of more conventionally literary writers such as Tim Winton, Thea Astley and Patrick White by winning Australia's pre-eminent prize for fiction. Advertisement: Story continues below Temple chooses not to describe himself as a crime writer but he is happy for others to do so. ''As far as I am concerned I write novels and other people can do the labelling,'' he said yesterday. But he uses crime in the same way that Graham Greene would in ''entertainments'' such as Brighton Rock. ''It's a wonderful vehicle. What is more at the heart of social life than the crime against the person? I see it as an excuse for beginning the narrative. It has its own logic and relentless drive. It is a reason for things to happen and for the way characters behave.'' Some might say that giving Temple the Miles was a brave decision by the judges. Although he is much more than a conventional crime writer, it is the first time that a so-called genre writer has won the award. It's hard to think of a major prize Rosetta Stone V3 for literary fiction in the English-speaking world that has gone to a crime writer. Stylists as elegant and original as Raymond Chandler were never honoured in this way. And when Tom Robb Smith's Child 44, a serial-killer thriller set in Stalin's Soviet Union, was long-listed for the Man Booker a couple of years ago, there was something of a stink. Truth is a companion book to The Broken Shore rather than a sequel. Its main character, Stephen Villani, popped up in the earlier book but was not a major character. Now head of homicide, he is dealing with the ghastly murders of two young women and endeavouring to deal with the dismal state of his marriage, his on-off affair with a television journalist and his role as a father, a brother and, significantly, a son. All this in a Melbourne enveloped in the stench of political and corporate corruption and a countryside that is about to burst into flames. When he accepted the award, Temple said the judges might cop a bit of flak; you do the crime you do the time, was his line. But Morag Fraser, spokesperson for the judges, says they have received no criticism for their decision. Truth is distinctive, she says, because of the way Temple uses language. ''There is pleasure in every sentence. He is a considerable craftsman. And there is deep investment in the moral lives of his characters. Villani is really three-dimensional.'' Temple has written four novels about his Fitzroy-based character, Jack Irish - Bad Debts, Black Tide, Dead Point and White Dog. Another three - An Iron Rose, Shooting Star and In the Evil Day are stand-alone novels. The The Broken Shore and Truth is a sequence that may turn into a loose trilogy. Critic and editor Peter Craven says Temple is ''one of those exceptional writers who break down the distinction between art and trash; between quality literary writing and popular yarn spinning''. ''He's always been a class act and you could tell with the Jack Irish novels that you were in the hands of an elegant stylist.

US may still need monetary medicine

The IMF's prescription for the US economy could need tweaking, writes Jeremy Warner. In a downbeat assessment of the US economy published last week, the International Monetary Fund said there was "scope for a smaller upfront fiscal adjustment if downside risks materialise". What the directors are saying is that the US can afford to go slow on fiscal consolidation if the economy starts to weaken again. This is the same debate Britain is having about how quickly to cut the deficit. Does it make sense to cut if the economy is weakening? As far as the US is concerned, the IMF seems to agree that it doesn't and has therefore given international blessing to what the Obama administration seems determined, assuming Congress allows, to do anyway - a second fiscal stimulus, or at least a postponement of vague commitments to start squeezing from next year onwards. Advertisement: Story continues below Now I am not saying that the US economy does not need further stimulus. Perhaps it does. Ignore the recent second quarter gross domestic product figures. Growth was much slower than the first quarter at 2.4 per cent, but there were some encouraging signs. Investment was well up, and there was apparently a big surge in new home construction. Yet many of the lead indicators have started to flash red over the past few weeks. The recovery is still highly dependent on public policy support. To withdraw it too soon risks plunging the economy back into recession. On the other hand, there is now evidence that far from being the solution, the deficit is a big part of the problem. As the IMF admits, "setting public debt back on a sustainable path remains a key macro-economic challenge". I would put it more strongly. It is in fact the key economic challenge. The IMF has to be careful what it says about the US, Rosetta Stone Portuguese so there is the customary "welcome" for the administration's commitment to fiscal stabilisation. What fiscal stabilisation? US plans for deficit reduction are vague, and to the extent that they seem to rely substantially on growth to do the donkey work, wholly unconvincing. America risks putting itself in considerable and largely unnecessary long-term peril by continuing to borrow on such a scale. Money and credit are again shrinking fast in the US. The solution is not further fiscal stimulus, which thus far seems to have profited Chinese exports far more than American jobs, but for the Federal Reserve once more to turn on the printing presses through a renewed program of purchases of Treasury securities - in other words, more quantitative easing. The last Fed minutes raised this possibility, and last week there was support for it from James Bullard, the president of the St Louis Federal Reserve and a member of the Fed's rate-setting Open Markets Committee. Mr Bullard said the Fed should be ready to shift its focus to more aggressively pumping credit into the financial system if the recovery appears at risk. "On balance, the US quantitative easing program offers the best tool to avoid such an outcome," he said, adding that his preferred route would be through buying more long-term Treasury securities. In a speech entitled "Seven Faces of The Peril", he says that the Open Market Committee's continued use of "extended period" language was increasing the risks of a Japanese-style deflation. The Fed has for long now said that it intends to keep rates low for an "extended period" but in Mr Bullard's view this might have started to do more harm than good, for it tends to lend support to the idea that the Fed expects things to be bad for a long time, and therefore further damages confidence. A permanently low nominal interest rate environment, a la Japan, would become embedded in popular psychology. Mr Bullard thinks the best solution is continued expansion of the money supply. He must be right, though it is also possible to sympathise with Richard Fisher, of the Dallas Fed, who reckons policymakers have already done enough.