Flood injured in brutal surf while Eckstein rules the waves

REIGNING ironwoman champion Naomi Flood and heir apparent Hayley Bateup almost came to blows in a thrilling round-four encounter at the Sunshine Coast yesterday.

Literary links Kenneth Slessor

18a Billyard Avenue, Elizabeth Bay

The fatal shore

THE search for bodies resumes today as hundreds of people are feared dead in Samoa and American Samoa after towering tsunami waves swept across low-lying southern coastlines yesterday.

... And another thing

FIFTY billion dollars ("Money talks in China deal", The Age, 19/8). How many black balloons? Forbes Sprawson, Hampton

YOUR WEEK AHEAD

This exciting, unpredictable, edgy week crackles with fiery promise after the weepy emotionality of recent times. It's neither tepid, tame nor entirely drama free.

Marriage finds a power couple

The prospect of two men or women being joined in official matrimony is colliding with a furious push by Christian groups to establish a National Marriage Day on August 13. The National Marriage Day committee, run by the Australian Family Association, is hoping to fill the Great Hall at Parliament House next month for a breakfast marking the fifth anniversary of the 2004 amendment to the Marriage Act under former PM John Howard which redefined marriage as "the union of a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others". The association's national vice-president, Mary-Louise Fowler, said every federal MP has been sent an invitation although only one, Eric Abetz, is signed up. Fowler said the idea was conceived at last year's AFA national conference and its timing alongside the introduction of the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill into Parliament by the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young last month was coincidental.

It's no laughing matter

Comedy may no longer be easy as ABC, write Nicole Brady and Bridget McManus.

The Kingdom Beyond The Waves

The Kingdom Beyond The Waves Stephen Hunt Voyager, $45

Beijing Broadcast Marks Milestone For Salvaged Sen

MELBOURNE sports radio station SEN last week revealed it had paid a "substantial" amount to secure commercial broadcast rights for the Beijing Olympics. Hardly groundbreaking news, it was another significant milestone for a station that, three years ago, couldn't pay its staff and was expected to disappear from the air waves.

Riding High On Air Waves

The daily program is never short of a challenge, writes Loren Cousins.

Triple M Clears The Air

TRIPLE M drive anchor Adam Barratt recently spent days on-air claiming Fifi Box and Marty Sheargold, hosts of The Shebang drive show, had mysteriously gone missing, and beseeching listeners to call in if they spotted them.