Melbourne, July 30 : While binge drinking is normally associated with young revellers, a new Australian report has a different story to tell. According to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Health Index, baby boomers are nudging the bottle harder than their kids.

The report has found almost 10 per cent of people aged 55 to 64 had 20 or more standard drinks in a week, compared to eight per cent of those aged 18 to 24.

But the survey found Australians were trying alcohol for the first time at a younger age.

The GSK survey questioned random samples of less than 100 people from each Australian state and territory.

Melbourne, July 30 : When it comes to driving, it looks like Australian men are not such great fans of women, for a new survey shows that most blokes don''t like being a passenger while their partner is driving, with most believing that females aren''t good drivers.

According to a survey of 3000 readers of motoring mag Australian Top Gear, only 15 per cent feel comfortable when their wives or girlfriends were driving.

Almost 50 percent said that they liked to point out serious flaws in their partners driving skills and many admitted they were embarrassed.

Melbourne, July 30 : If there is one dubious record that New South Wales would love to do without, it would be the label that it has Australia and the world’s laziest parliament.

According to news. com. au, the parliament in this Australian state sits less than parliaments’ in India and in some war-torn African countries.

NSW will sit for 48 days in 2008, while Piccoli claimed Victoria sat for 66 days a year, South Australia for 58, Western Australia 57, Tasmania 53 and Queensland 50.

The UK''s Parliament sits 146 days of the year, South Africa 104, Kenya 88, Canada 135, US Congress 150 and India 81.

Sydney - Mourner

Sydney - Shards of metal from an exploding oxygen tank shot through the fuselage of a Qantas jumbo jet and even pushed the handle of an emergency door into the opening position, news reports said Wednesday.

An exploding oxygen tank is the prime suspect in a Qantas flight Friday from Hong Kong having to make an emergency landing at Manila.

The mid-air explosion tore a hole in the plane's fuselage and prompted the pilot to make a rapid descent from 29,000 feet to
10,000 feet in about four minutes.

"It's an incredibly rare event for the oxygen tank to explode, and for it to hit the door handle and rotate it open is just eye- watering," a source told The Australian newspaper.

Melbourne, July 29 : Lawyers representing the three Islamic militants who are on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings, have argued that they could suffer unnecessary pain if they do not die immediately when the lethal punishment is carried out.

The plea came ahead of a Constitutional Court challenge that is to be taken up next week.