Farmers’ leaders had earlier toured the area in an effort to calm emotions running high since Monday’s incidents. Mr Kay was tied up, whipped and beaten about the head by up to 25 assailants.One neighbouring farmer said: “He’s lucky to be alive. We’ve been threatened by these squatters for weeks now, but this time they have crossed the line. If nothing is done, we’ll have no choice other than to fight back.”Mr Kay was attacked because he is a known supporter of the Movement for Democratic Change, the main opposition party challenging the President in the elections.. An award-winning Aboriginal actress handed back her Order of Australia medal yesterday and added her voice to the crescendo of outrage that has greeted the government’s attempt to play down a 50-year officially sanctioned policy of removing black children from their families. An award-winning Aboriginal actress handed back her Order of Australia medal yesterday and added her voice to the crescendo of outrage that has greeted the government’s attempt to play down a 50-year officially sanctioned policy of removing black children from their families.
Justine Saunders said that she did not want the medal back until she once more felt proud to be Australian.

Several other prominent Aborigines plan to follow suit, including Charlie Perkins, a veteran campaigner, who has warned that violent protests will mar the Sydney Olympic Games in September.Relations between the conservative coalition government of John Howard and Australia’s indigenous community are now at their lowest point for years, after publication of a leaked report which denied the existence of a “stolen generation” of Aboriginal children.The report, prepared by the Aboriginal Affairs Minister, John Herron, says that no more than 10 per cent of children were removed under the policy -carried out from 1910 until the late 1960s – of assimilating them into white society. It says the policy cannot be judged against contemporary values.Among those who condemned the government yesterday were Sir Ronald Wilson, a former High Court judge who co-wrote a landmark report in 1997 on the stolen generation. He said there was no evidence to support the claim that no more than 10 per cent of children were taken from their parents.Mr Howard played down expectations of protests at the Olympics, saying yesterday: “I think everybody should think and talk in a moderate, understanding way. We reject extreme language.” He dismissed calls for the government to apologise for the policy. “It is not appropriate to have a formal national apology for things for which you were not responsible.”. While Wall Street’s most volatile session in history left traders reeling, market analysts were holding out hope that the purge of the swollen technology sector had restored a sense of balance to the market.

While Wall Street’s most volatile session in history left traders reeling, market analysts were holding out hope that the purge of the swollen technology sector had restored a sense of balance to the market.
Fueled by an exodus from all things technological, the stock market went into a stomach-churning rout Tuesday, with the Nasdaq composite index and Dow Jones industrials each dropping more than 500 points. But the stampede reversed as buyers returned in search of bargains, and most stocks ended the chaotic session with only moderate losses.Many of the best-known technology stocks are still up for the year, but out of the stratospheric territory that had distressed investment analysts. Smaller companies with little or no earnings have been knocked down to prices that are more justifiable to investors still eager to take chances.What’s more, when the market stopped swooning, the Nasdaq and the Dow had obliterated much of the divergence that had perplexed market analysts since late last year.At the close of trading, the Nasdaq was up just 2 percent in the year to date The Dow was down less than 3 percent for the year. At the height of the market’s divergence in early March, the Nasdaq had risen 24 percent for the year and the Dow had sunk nearly 15 percent.”As hard as it is to believe, this is a good thing,” said Pete Anderson, chief investment officer at American Express Financial Advisors in Minneapolis “One sector of the market was insanely overvalued The rest was deeply undervalued.

Now we are reversing that.”The Nasdaq and the Dow each recorded their widest point swings in history Tuesday on record volume. The Nasdaq was down 574.57 points at midday, then clawed back to finish down 74.79 at 4,148.89. From its high to its low, the Nasdaq moved more than 634 points.The Dow rose 196.31 points Tuesdayy afternoon. It finished down 57.09 at 11,164.84, having made its way back to positive territory briefly before turning lower once again. It swung more than 700 points during the day.The swoon contributed to a second straight decline in Japan’s benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average.