LONDON

6/04/2009 12:00:00 AM

Children who live in homes with vinyl flooring have double the chance of being autistic, research has discovered.

The finding which amazed even the scientists conducting the study provides one of the first clues as to a possible cause of the condition.

The study, by scientists in Sweden, Denmark and the United States, stumbled across the connection almost by accident.

It is being taken seriously because autism has long been thought to result from environmental factors.

DEBORAH SNOW
6/04/2009 12:23:30 AM

SOME of Sydney's wealthiest private schools will receive handouts of up to $200,000 each to refurbish already lavish sporting and arts facilities, under the first leg of the Federal Government's National School Pride program unveiled yesterday.

The federal Education Minister, Julia Gillard, said more than 2000 NSW schools would receive grants totalling $277.5 million to be spent on "maintenance and minor building works".

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MICHAEL FIELD
24/03/2009 12:53:00 PM
TelstraClear, Telstra's New Zealand subsidiary, has hired one of the worlds best known hackers - a teenager known as "Akill".

Nineteen-year-old Owen Thor Walker became the subject of a US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cyber crime investigation spanning the United States, Europe and New Zealand and dubbed "Bot Roast".

New Zealand police finally caught him last year and he admitted to being the ring-leader, code-named Akill, of a group known as the A-Team.

A Canberra coroner has called on the ACT Government to provide more funding for coronial support services.

Coroner Ron Cahill made the comments during an inquest into the death of a 21-year-old disabled man.

Stephen Moon had been sedated after having his wisdom teeth out at Calvary hospital.

Today, the court heard it was likely he had died from pneumonia he had contracted while on ventilation.