Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is a former Australian politician who was twice Prime Minister of Australia serving from 2007 to 2010 and again from 27 June 2013 to 18 September 2013. He also served as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010. Rudd was the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs from 14 September 2010 to 22 February 2012. He was member for Griffith in Brisbane from 1998 to 2013.
Rudd went to the Australian National University and studied International Studies. He learned to speak the Chinese language. He became a diplomat for the Australian government. He lived and worked in Sweden, and later in China. Rudd won a seat in Parliament in 1998. The Australian Labor party elected him the Leader of the Opposition in December 2006. After 11 years of the Liberal Party being in power, the Labor Party won the 2007 federal election. During the election Rudd talked a lot about work agreements (industrial relations laws) and global warming. As prime minister he signed the Kyoto Protocol and "apologised" to Aboriginal Australians for bad things done by the government long ago. He spoke about human rights in China in the Chinese language to Chinese students. Australia and China were doing lots of trade, but the Chinese government did not like this talk. He also supported the Afghanistan war and took Australian troops out of the Iraq conflict.
Rudd was Prime Minister at the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis. His government, with Wayne Swan as treasurer, spent a lot of money to try and keep the economy going. Australia did not have a recession, but management of this government spending started problems for Rudd. His government was seen as being unable to cope with and this started to affect Rudd's popularity.
Rudd planned a new tax on the huge profits being made mining companies in Australia. These companies and their leaders started a huge advertising campaign against the Labor government. He also decided to delay his election promises to do something about Global Warming. His leadership style was unpopular with many members of the Labor Party. members of parliament felt that they were not able to take part in making important decisions. They felt that Rudd left things until the last moment, and then acted quickly when things had almost became a crisis. With these things happening, the Labor Party decided that there had to be some changes. Realizing that he had lost support, Rudd resigned as leader of the Labor Party, and as Prime Minister. Julia Gillard was elected to the position of leader, and therefore prime minister. He was really sad. Gillard promised that Rudd would be made Foreign Minister if they won the 2010 election.
After the 2010 Election, Gillard chose Rudd to be Foreign Minister. In February 2012, Rudd decided that he should again be leader of the Labor Party. He said he could not work with Gillard because she did not trust him. He resigned as Foreign Minister, and said he would challenge Gillard for the leadership. The Labor Party held a meeting on 27 February 2012 and held a new vote for the leader's position. Rudd only received 31 votes while Gillard got 71 votes. Rudd returned to the backbench, and not have any positions of responsibility in the government until on 26 June 2013, Gillard announced another caucus ballot on the leadership. Rudd won it so he became the Leader of the Labor Party for a second time. On 27 June 2013, Rudd was sworn in as Prime Minister. Rudd is the first former Prime Minister to return to the office since Robert Menzies in 1949 and the second Labor Prime Minister to do so.
On 31 May 2012 Rudd became a grandfather when his daughter Jessica gave birth to a baby girl.
On 7 September 2013, Labor lost the 2013 election to the Coalition led by Tony Abbott.
On 13 November 2013, Rudd announced that he would be retiring from politics at end of week. His resignation took effect on 22 November 2013.
Hurley (stick)
A hurley(Irish: Camán), also known as a ‘hurl’, is a wooden stick measuring between 70 and 100 cm (26 to 40 inches) long with a flattened, curved end (called the "bas"), used to hit a "sliotar" (leather ball) in the Irish sport of hurling. It is also used in camogie, the female equivalent, and there often called a camogie stick.
Hurleys are made from ash wood, and are usually bought from local craftsmen in Ireland, who still use traditional production methods.
No matter how well crafted the hurley is, a hurler may well expect to use several hurleys over the course of the hurling season. The hurleys often break if two collide in the course of a game, or occasionally they break off on the other players (arms, legs, etc.). Two hurleys colliding is colloquially known as "the clash of the ash." Throwing the hurley (e.g. to block a ball going high over one's head) is illegal, but camogie players may drop it to make a handpass.
Sliotar
A sliotar (or sliothar) is a hard solid sphere slightly larger than a tennis ball, consisting of a cork core covered by two pieces of leather stitched together. Sometimes called a "puck" or "hurling ball", it resembles an American baseball with more pronounced stitching. It is used in the Gaelic games of hurling, camogie, rounders and shinty.
Early sliotars used various materials, depending on the part of the country:
Camogie
Camogie (in Irish, "camógaíocht") is an Irish team sport, organised by the "Camogie Association of Ireland", the women's variant of hurling. The rules are almost identical to hurling with a few exceptions.
One is that goalkeepers wear the same colours as outfield players and a player in camogie can handpass a score, which is not allowed in the men's game. All games last 60 minutes (senior inter-county hurling games last 70), and dropping the camogie stick to handpass the ball is allowed. The All-Ireland Final is held every year in Croke Park during September, usually the week between the hurling final and Gaelic football final. There are two main competitions; the National League which is staged during the winter-spring months and is used as a warm-up to the All-Ireland Championships during the summer.
The reigning champions are Cork.
Camogie/hurling is unique in that it uses a different name for the version played by men and women. The reason is complicated: men play using a curved stick called in Irish a "camán". Women would use a shorter stick, called by the diminutive form "camóg". The suffix -"aíocht" was added to both words to give names for the sports: "camánaíocht" (which became "iománaíocht") and "camógaíocht". When the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded in 1884 the English-origin name "hurling" was given to the men's game. When an organisation for women was set up in 1904, it was decided to Anglicise the Irish name "camógaíocht" to "camogie".
Rounders
Rounders is a sport which originated in Great Britain and Ireland. The game is regulated by the "Gaelic Athletic Association" (GAA) in Ireland and the "National Rounders Association" (NRA) in the UK. Both have different, although broadly similar, game-play and culture. Competitions are held between teams from both traditions, often with one version being played in the morning and the other being played in the afternoon.
Game-play centers around innings where teams act at turns being batters and fielders. A maximum of nine players are allowed to play in fielding positions at one time. Points ("rounders") are scored by the batting team by completing a circuit around the field through four bases/posts without being put 'out' - for example, by a ball they batted being 'caught-out' or touching a tagged base/post.
The earliest nationally formalised rules of play were devised by the GAA in Ireland in 1884.
Although it is generally considered a school game, rounders is played at international level as well. Currently, teams from Canada, England, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales compete against each other.