How is Julian Assange coping holed up in the embassy?

It depends, I guess, on whether you see "doing an Australian election video by dressing up as John Farnham" as coping or not, really:

Two parts "cry for help" to one part "too much time on your hands", I'd suggest.

Apparently, Australia still crushes butterflies on wheels

Allison Durbin, one of the biggest Australian chart acts of the early seventies, has been jailed for twelve months after being convicted of "growing and trafficking" cannabis.

Some of Antipodean pop's elder statesmen have condemned such a strict sentence for a woman who has managed to fight back from a life ruined by heroin addiction. John Farnham, who recorded an album of duets with Durbin, said:

"I think we need to show Allison a bit of compassion. It's not condoning what she's done, just to remind people that she's a human being ... and at heart a top person."

Rick Springfield, who got an early break as Durbin's touring guitarist, agreed:

"I am very concerned for Ali with the sentence she got. She is a fragile soul and this could kill her spirit."

The judge, Ian Robertson, appears to have taken a hard line with Durbin because she had beaten heroin - and thus, in his view, should know that drugs are bad things, although the logic of that would mean she'd have got a lighter sentence if she was still an addict.

Her solicitor says Durbin - now known as Allison Giles - intends to appeal.

Fear of underwear lands Kiri in court

Kiri Te Kanawa has wound up facing legal action after pulling out of a planned series of concerts with John Farnham.

Apparently, TeKanawa had had a series of misgivings about the hoiking together of high culture and its country cousin, pop culture, but finally drew the line when she discovered that people sometimes throw underwear at John Farnham.

(We're not entirely sure we believe the claims that Farnham gets pants tossed in his direction - unless he's taken on a small tour of strip joints and doesn't site his piano that wisely.)

Concert promoter Leading Edge Events is suing the New Zealand-born Te Kanawa and her former manager, Nick Grace, for more than more than 600,000 Australian dollars (US$464,000; €359,662) for alleged breach of contract after the soprano pulled out of a series of concerts in 2005.

Te Kanawa, from her side, has filed a counter-suit.