‘No one has ever survived this’

Rob Hewitt talks about the realisation he would spend the night alone, adrift in the ocean. Catch the full episode on Tuesday, June 24 at 8:30pm on SBS ONE.

Rob Hewitt survived four days at sea by treading water. Source: SBS

WHEN Rob Hewitt's dive boat left without him, he figured it wouldn't be long before help arrived.

Stuck miles off the coast of Wellington, the experienced New Zealand navy diver was forced to tread water as he waited and waited.

But it wasn't until the sun set on the horizon hours later that he knew he was really in trouble and facing the biggest fight for his life.

The then 38-year-old had been diving with a team of others when he became stuck in a rip and was carried away from the boat in February 2006.

When he emerged he could see the boat in the distance and assumed it would come back.

But it never found him.

He spent the next four days at sea treading water and staring death in the face.

"I realised people who scaled Mt Everest knew Sir Edmund Hillary had survived before them, but no-one had survived this," he said of his experience of being stuck at sea.

The father-of-four reveals what went through his mind during that time and how he battled against all the elements to live.

Mr Hewitt said at first he almost refused to believe he'd be left for too long but as the hours turned into days, his survival instinct kicked in.

The diver made his peace with the sea months later. Source: Supplied

"A spirituality came over me," he told news.com.au from his home in Palmerston North on the North Island of New Zealand.

"I realised I was in massive trouble and began praying.

"Once that sun went down I had the mindset of just surviving."

As the hours passed and he became more tired he developed a routine for getting rest with the aid of his flotation device and oxygen tank and cried out his wife and children's names every hour.

He imagined the worst pain he had been through and compared it to the pain he felt at the time, thinking it couldn't get worse.

The now weakened diver even contemplated dumping his equipment but feared he wouldn't make the swim back to shore against a strong current.

Mr Hewitt pictured during his rescue. Source: Supplied

He said dying from loneliness scared him more than anything else, and he wanted his family to know that he loved them.

"I knew I was staring death in the face so wanted to stay as alert as possible so when the time came I could say I wasn't ready yet," he said.

When he was finally found four days later, he had drifted 36 nautical miles, but the current had swept him 35 miles back near the spot where he vanished.

He was suffering hallucinations and severe hypothermia but was miraculously alive.

He said he thought he was "bigger than Ben Hur" until that fateful day. It took him 12 months, but he has made friends again with the sea by diving back in.

Prof Richard Bryant on how the body responds in a crisis. Catch the full episode on Tuesday, June 24 at 8:30pm on SBS ONE.

His incredible story features on SBS Insight tonight which asks what it takes to survive.

The show also hears from world expert in the psychological response to trauma, Prof Richard Bryant who said the human body was designed to fight for survival.

Prof Bryant said Mr Hewitt's case was an exceptional one and his survival chances were increased by his years of navy training.

But he told news.com.au that humans were a species that have worked out ways to survive and that evolution had provided us with an in-built fight or flight response.

He said people under severe stress released adrenalin which created all the body's reactions that were needed to deal with the threat.

Prof Bryant said while fast-acting defences such as increased heart rate and sweating helped our body fight, survivors also developed slow acting techniques.

These helped calm the body down, allowing us to think more clearly and make better decisions.

Fiona Wilde speaks about the moment she realised she was being kidnapped. Catch the full episode on Tuesday, June 24 at 8:30pm on SBS ONE.

The show also features northern NSW woman Fiona Wilde who was held hostage for 30 hours after being taken hostage in the Amazon.

Ms Wilde was on a tour boat which was stopped in the middle of the Amazon River in 2012.

At first she thought it was a robbery, but "once they got us off that boat and got us to run at gun point, that was when I figured this might be real."

She said she knew she had to stay valuable to the bandits because the "only way out is relying on these three people that have just kidnapped me and are threatening my life."

Sydney man David Jacobs also appears on the show revealing how he survived the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Insight guest David Jacobs rang his wife to say goodbye as he took refuge in his hotel room during a terrorist attack. Catch the full episode on Tuesday, June 24 at 8:30pm on SBS ONE.

Mr Jacobs said he took refuge in a cupboard in his room in the Oberoi Hotel.

While terrorists took over the hotel for three days, his only lifeline was his mobile phone, which he used to stay in touch with friends, family and security analysts who talked him through the siege.

Fellow Sydney man James Dorney also knows what it's like to live through a terror attack.

He was sitting at his desk on the 92nd floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when he saw a massive explosion in the building opposite.

He ignored announcements that his Tower was secure, and started to evacuate.

"It's impossible to describe a Boeing 767 slamming into the side of the building you're standing in'. Hundreds of people flooded the stairwells, which he tells the show is "extremely challenging, the feeling of helplessness … Not being able to move".

James Dorney was on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Centers South Tower on September 11. Catch the full episode on Tuesday, June 24 at 8:30pm on SBS ONE.

What does it take to survive airs on Insight tonight at 8.30pm on SBS ONE .

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Mystery buried treasure has US obsessed

Catch the SBS report on modern-day treasure hunters on Dateline tonight (Tuesday 24 June) at 9.30pm on SBS ONE.

IT SOUNDS like the plot of an Indiana Jones tale.

A dying man with a passion for archeology and adventure hides an Aztec treasure chest filled with gold nuggets as big as chicken eggs in America's Rocky mountains.

The only clue to its whereabouts is a cryptic poem which has driven treasure hunters to the brink of obsession, with thousands who will stop at nothing to find it.

Only it's not a fairytale, but the true story behind 83-year-old art dealer and archaeologist Forrest Fenn, who has captured the global imagination with an old fashioned treasure hunt.

This photo provided by Forrest Fenn contains the chest that is purported to hold hundreds of rare gold coins and other artefacts hidden in the Rocky mountains. Pic: AP, Addison Doty Source: AP

SBS Dateline reporter Nick Lazaredes was drawn to the story about a year ago while travelling in the US as a change of pace from the "usually miserable" stories journalists normally report.

"It's in a part of America I was fascinated with and the more we looked the more layers there were. It was causing troubles, attracting a fringe of lunatics, all sorts which made it look quite interesting," he said.

The man behind the mystery is Forrest Fenn, an octogenarian Mr Lazaredes describes as "about as close to Indiana Jones as you can get". The former Vietnam fighter pilot returned to America and started working as an art dealer and archaeologist, finding ancient relics across America's south west. In the late 1980s a brush with cancer meant he hatched a plot to give something back to society.

Forrest Fenn drinking a Dr Pepper at his San Lozaro Pueblo in New Mexico. Credit: Forrest Fenn Source: Supplied

Forrest Fenn pictured in his twenties. Credit: Forrest Fenn Source: Supplied

"He was always thinking of ways to give back. He's done very well and enjoyed going out and looking for objects. As a kid he would explore, it was something he wanted to encourage... The treasure hunt was a way of getting families out engaged in a hobby," Mr Lazaredes said.

Mr Fenn spent 15 years planning the hunt and the chest is rumoured to contain hundreds of gold nuggets, some as large as chicken eggs. The only clue to its whereabouts is a poem published in a book by Mr Fenn called the The Thrill of the Chase .

Not surprisingly, the hunt has sparked an avalanche of interest and it's estimated about 6000 people are looking for the treasure full time, with websites dedicated to finding it.

Mr Lazaredes said hunters range from simply "obsessed" to outright "mad". For some, the clues relate to an ancient Aztec tribe that lived in the area. Others think it's located in Yellowstone National Park near where Mr Fenn spent his childhood, while others reason he was a sick old man so it must be in New Mexico close to where he lives.

Marty Kreis and her sisters looking for treasure in Yellowstone National Park. Credit: Charissa Kreis Source: Supplied

Indian petroglyphs seen while treasure hunting at the Legend Rock Petroglyff site in Wyoming. Credit: Charissa Kreis Source: Supplied

Mr Fenn refuses to say whether it's on sacred native Indian land, in a National Park, or somewhere in between. His silence has exasperated authorities as the hunt has led people to go missing, or have to be rescued from rivers.

"This year it's started to have a few issues. People have been caught with metal detectors, other people have been arrested or caught digging up ancient graves ... When we were there, there was a guy missing," Mr Lazaredes said.

"The authorities aren't really happy with him. Yellowstone [rangers] would like him to come out and say but without that there's not much they can do. If people are caught traipsing there they get the book thrown at them," Mr Lazaredes said.

SBS Dateline correspondent Nick Lazaredes interviews Forrest Fenn at his Santa Fe mansion. Credit: Dal Neitzel Source: Supplied

He's also faced criticism for plundering Native American treasures and has received death threats from desperate hunters.

There's even speculation there is no treasure at all — a notion Mr Fenn dismisses out of hand, telling Dateline the only way to prove it is to show you and "then I'd have to kill you".

But whether it's real or not, the treasure has certainly captured the global imagination.

"I'd been [to the US] 20 odd times and some of the countryside I saw was among the most amazing sites in the world. There's people checking every rock and every cave. It can be pretty fascinating," Mr Lazaredes said.

For Mr Fenn, the important thing is that people are off the couch searching.

"If nobody finds the treasure, I promise you in 1000 years from now — people will still be looking," Mr Lazaredes said.

Catch Treasure Hunters on tonight Dateline at 9:30 on SBS ONE.

Bison in snow on the treasure hunt in Yellowstone National Park Montana. Credit: Charissa Kreis Source: Supplied

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Megablizzard slams Aussie ski areas

Snow has started to fall in the alpine areas ahead of what is tipped to be the start of a huge snow dump

This scene from Falls Creek in Victoria is what everyone hopes they see tomorrow. Except, of course, for those motorists who forgot to bring a snow shovel. Source: News Limited

IT'S here. The megablizzard. Snowpocalypse now. This baby has been on the weather charts all week and it's howling its way through the Australian Alps as you read this.

Experienced weather watchers are calling it the storm of the century. They're saying it could snow on and off, but mostly on, for the next 10 days. The first flakes are already falling as you read this. The megablizzard has arrived.

The official Australian ski season started two weeks ago but since then, there's been a desperately thin snow base with only a lift or two turning at the NSW resorts of Perisher and Thredbo. Victorian resorts, which are a little lower than their NSW counterparts, have had nothing but grass.

A very foggy Falls Creek in Victoria this morning just as the megablizzard is about to strike. Pic: ski.com.au. Source: NewsComAu

The same spot as the above pic an hour or so later, as the megablizard descends. Pic: ski.com.au. Source: NewsComAu

It's still coming down. Wait till tomorrow. Pic: ski.com.au Source: NewsComAu

But all that's changing today. By this time next week, we could be looking at virtually all lifts spinning at resorts on both sides of the Murray, with a metre or more of cover. Just in time for the school holidays too, the two week window which is vital for our ski industry bottom line.

Here's the Excelerator run at Perisher this morning, pre megablizzard. Pic: ski.com.au. Source: NewsComAu

And the lunchtime image. Pic: ski.com.au. Source: NewsComAu

And the late Monday afternoon image. Can't wait for tomorrow's pic! Pic: ski.com.au. Source: NewsComAu

Snow in Australia has been generally declining in recent years. Here's a graph that proves it.

Obviously the projection into the future cannot be relied upon. But the line of decline from the 1950s to the present day is very accurate. The blue bars represent the peak depth at Spencer's Creek. And for those asking why the measurements don't start before the 1950s, it's because there was no Snowy Hydro scheme then, so nobody bothered. Source: NewsComAu

The graph shows measurements from Spencer's Creek, halfway between Perisher and Thredbo. The readings are taken weekly by electricity generation company Snowy Hydro to predict water inflows to dams, and are therefore unaffected by resort spin doctors.

Snowfall decline is not just a result of warmer temperatures. Climatologists say that one of the clear effects of climate change is fewer snow-bearing systems making their way from the Southern Ocean to the Australian Alps.

The official Bureau of Meteorology charts for today and tomorrow. if you can't read a weather map, the black lines with 'shark fins' bring cold weather from the Southern Ocean. This means snow. Hooray. Source: NewsComAu

Ever heard of the roaring forties? It's an old maritime term which refers to the band of low pressure systems in the 40s latitudes. During winter, these systems can push northwards and bring their cold, moist sub-polar air to southern Australia. In a good snow year, plenty of these systems push north. In a poor year, like the worst ever season of 2006, hardly any break through.

That's why the current weather charts have snow watchers in such a lather. It's not just the current cold front, marked by a line with what you might call black "shark fins" on the weather map. It's the fact that there's another front, and another due after that. The one next Saturday in particular looks like a doozy. And there's a chance of more snowy action well into next week on the long range charts.

It's going to get better than this. We promise. Source: NewsComAu

Here's what a user called "Snowblowa" said on the forums on leading snow industry website ski.com.au:

"Seriously when was the last time we were looking at a potential 100cm event to kick off the season properly with potential mega follow up?!!!!!!! We gotta savour this, it's gunna be awesome, we might be saying in five years "remember late June in 2014". Besides, we are so over due, last few years in General have been pretty average."

Others on the site have dug through the archives to compare the current weather charts to famous megablizzards of the past.

"Reminds me of a system we had in early August 2004. It didn't stop snowing for 10 days or something like that. Still has to happen, of course."

Compare this 2004 weather chart from today's charts pictured higher up. As you can see, they are nearly identical. This 2004 storm brought a metre or so of snow, hence the optimism for today's event. Woohoo. Source: NewsComAu

Indeed it does. But as mentioned, the megablizzard has already started, in a welcome throwback to the days when heavy snowfalls were more regular in Australia. We'll keep updating our images as the storm continues. Hopefully by tomorrow morning, we'll have some pics of what snow industry people like to call "snow porn". Ugly phrase, beautiful thing.

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Former Neighbours star slams Bindi Irwin

Aussie star Caitlin Stasey shocks with bizarre and sexually explicit Twitter rants. Source: Instagram

AN Aussie actress has lashed out at Bindi Irwin after the 15-year-old wildlife warrior suggested teenage girls should dress less provocatively.

Caitlin Stasey launched a Twitter tirade after Bindi told News Corp Australia girls her age should dress 'classier'.

"I'm a big advocate for young girls dressing their age," Bindi said.

"I mean, for me, I look around at a lot of young girls that are my age and they're always trying to dress older. Whether it's wearing revealing clothes or hardly wearing any clothes at all, I feel really bad for them.

Keep it classy ... Bindi Irwin says she feels bad for young girls who feel that they have to wear revealing clothes. Source: Instagram

"It kind of has the opposite effect in some ways ... it kind of does the opposite where it makes you look younger and like you're trying too hard."

Bindi's comments upset the former Neighbours star so much that she took to Twitter to share 'an open letter to Bindi'.

"In ten years you'll wish you stood beside your shared sex rather than be proud you belittled their choices & agency," Stasey tweeted.

The 24-year-old actress also attacked Bindi over her association with SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.

"Also, in ten years you'll deeply regret your affiliation and support of Sea World ... To hazard a guess," she wrote.

Bindi faced a backlash in the US after entering one of America's most heated public relations battles when she, alongside mother Terri and brother Robert, announced during an appearance on the top-rating US morning TV program Good Morning America that she was teaming up with SeaWorld theme parks in March.

Australian actress Caitlin Stasey took offence at Bindi's comments. Source: Supplied

Orlando-based SeaWorld Entertainment Inc has been dogged by bad press, protests and boycotts by performers including Willie Nelson and The Beach Boys the past year after the release of the award-winning film documentary Blackfish, which probes the treatment of killer whales at the company's theme parks.

But Stasey has recently courted controversy of her own, after the former soap star shocked social media users after posting topless images and sexually explicit expletive-ridden Twitter rants.

The Hollywood-based actress last week used Twitter to take a swipe at everything from Hollywood and its sexualisation of women, to controversial photographer Terry Richardson.

"This industry protects, forgives & celebrates sex offenders in whatever form they come, welcome to the Catholic Church that is Hollywood," she wrote to her 30,000 plus followers.

She also shared her views and experiences on oral sex.

The daughter of late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has always tackled the big issues — from animal protection to human overpopulation — but now she's set her sights on a more conservative cause.

Bindi, who turns 16 next month, is increasingly ditching the khaki for the fresh styles she shares with her almost 100,000 Instagram followers.

"I guess for me, because I wear khaki so much — waking up every day at the zoo, you just kind of grab your khaki uniform and you're pretty much good to go — that when I get out of khaki I like to experiment and see how things go," she said.

"I suppose the last year or so really I've been starting to have some fun and see what I can do with makeup and wardrobe and be a little bit of a girlie girl.

"Finding that great line between comfort and looking semi-good is fantastic."

Twitter users have defended the young conservationist, telling Stacey to leave Bindi alone.

But The Tomorrow When the World Began actor bit back.

"Hey, to all coming to her defence by claiming she's 'only' a child. Quit being so goddamn patronizing," she tweeted.

"I'm a sex crazed vulgar lunatic, she a respectable and undeniable Bastion of modesty," she added.

Bindi, who is currently in the US with her mother Terri and brother Robert, is yet to respond.

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Kids ‘taped to beds at daycare’

A photograph allegedly showing a child taped to a bed. Picture: ABC News Source: ABC

A DAYCARE centre in Texas is being investigated after a mother claimed her child was duct taped to a bed.

An investigation has been launched after an employee at Heart2Heart Montessori Academy took a photo of a boy in a blanket strapped around his legs and chest to a sleeping mat. The employee circulated the photograph to parents and then resigned.

Lorrie Almquist, a mother of a three-year-old boy who was also restrained at the centre, said she was contacted by the co-owner Pam Decker to explain the situation.

"[The owner] proceeded to tell me that my son had not been napping and another little boy had not been napping and so she decided to duct tape them to his nap mat."

She then saw the devastating photographs and went straight to police.

The daycare centre where the incident allegedly occurred. Picture: ABC News Source: ABC

Ms Almquist told ABC News: "I felt violated and I was irate. I couldn't find any words to say to her. I was so hurt and saddened to think that my child had to go through that."

Ms Almquist immediately withdrew her son.

"I just don't want this to ever happen again," Almquist said. "I don't think children should be treated this way."

An email from the owner of the centre, Ashlea Pena, to the parents said Pam Decker was devastated by "a very foolish decision she made" but that the child pictured was not "harmed or caused any distress".

A statement released publicly claimed the staff have "the best interest of the children and parents as our highest priority".

"The school has an exemplary performance history, and will work with childcare licensing authorities and cooperate fully with any investigation."

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services' Child Licensing Division have launched an investigation which could take a month to complete.

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The jealous feud: Clintons v Obamas

Edward Klein looks at the volatile relationship between the Obamas and Clintons. Source: News Limited

IN HIS new book, "Blood Feud," journalist Edward Klein gets inside the dysfunctional, jealous relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack and Michelle Obama — and how it could explode in 2016.

Outwardly, they put on a show of unity — but privately, the Obamas and Clintons, the two power couples of the Democrat Party, loathe each other.

"I hate that man Obama more than any man I've ever met, more than any man who ever lived," Bill Clinton said to friends on one occasion, adding he would never forgive Obama for suggesting he was a racist during the 2008 campaign.

Klein claims Obama and Clinton loathe each other. Source: AP

The feeling is mutual. Obama made ­excuses not to talk to Bill, while the first lady privately sniped about Hillary.

On most evenings, Michelle Obama and her trusted adviser, Valerie Jarrett, met in a quiet corner of the White House residence. They'd usually open a bottle of Chardonnay, catch up on news about Sasha and Malia, and gossip about people who gave them heartburn.

Their favourite bête noire was Hillary Clinton, whom they nicknamed "Hildebeest," after the menacing and shaggy-maned gnu that roams the Serengeti.

The families just put on a show for the public, the explosive book claims. Source: AP

'Michelle could be president'

The animosity came to a head in the run-up to the 2012 election, when Obama's inner circle insisted he needed the former president's support to win. Obama finally telephoned Bill Clinton in September 2011 and invited him out for a round of golf.

"I'm not going to enjoy this," Bill told Hillary when they gathered with a group of friends and political associates at Whitehaven, their neo-Georgian home on Embassy Row in Washington, DC.

"I've had two successors since I left the White House — Bush and Obama — and I've heard more from Bush, asking for my advice, than I've heard from Obama. I have no relationship with the president — none whatsoever," Clinton said.

"I really can't stand the way Obama ­always seems to be hectoring when he talks to me," Clinton added, according to someone who was present at the gathering and spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Sometimes we just stare at each other. It's pretty damn awkward. Now we both have favours to ask each other, and it's going to be very unpleasant. But I've got to get this guy to owe me and to be on our side."

"Blood Feud" by Edward Klein. Source: Supplied

Bill Clinton likes to put Obama in his place, the book claims. Source: Supplied

During the golf game, Clinton didn't waste any time reminding Obama that as president he had presided over eight years of prosperity, while Obama had been unable to dig the country out of the longest financial ­doldrums since the Great Depression.

"Bill got into it right away," said a Clinton family friend. "He told Obama, 'Hillary and I are gearing up for a run in 2016.' He said Hillary would be 'the most qualified, most experienced candidate, perhaps in history.' His reference to Hillary's experience made Obama wince, since it was clearly a shot at his lack of experience when he ran for president.

"And so Bill continued to talk about Hillary's qualifications ... and the coming campaign in 2016. But Barack didn't bite. He changed the subject several times. Then suddenly, Barack said something that took Bill by complete surprise. He said, 'You know, Michelle would make a great presidential candidate, too.'

"Bill was speechless. Was Barack comparing Michelle's qualifications to Hillary's? Bill said that if he hadn't been on a mission to strike a deal with Barack, he might have stormed off the golf course then and there."

The book suggests Clinton thinks his wife is on a different level to Michelle Obama. Source: AP

BlackBerry snub

Bill Clinton would go on to campaign for Obama in 2012, but he felt betrayed when the president seemed to waver when it came to a 2016 endorsement of Hillary. Obama attempted to smooth things over with a joint "60 Minutes" interview with Hillary, and later a private dinner for the two couples at the White House.

And so, on March 1, 2013 — the very day that the $85 billion in budget cuts known as the "sequester" went into effect — the Clintons slipped unnoticed into the White House and sat down for dinner with the Obamas in the Residence.

Typically, once Obama decided to do something (for example, the surge in Afghanistan), he immediately had second thoughts, and his behaviour during dinner degenerated from moody to grumpy to bad-tempered.

After the obligatory greetings and small talk about family, Obama asked Bill what he thought about the sequester: Would it turn out to be a political plus for him? Bill went into a long — and boring — lecture about the issue.

To change the subject, Hillary asked Michelle if it was true, as she had heard, that the first lady was thinking about running for the Senate from Illinois.

Michelle said that she was warming to the idea, though she had yet to make up her mind.

Bill shot Hillary a look of incredulity.

The new power couple apparently don't see eye-to-eye with the old power couple. Source: AFP

Bill then moved the conversation to Obama's vaunted 2012 campaign ­organisation. He told Obama that it would be a good idea to fold the organisation, along with all its digital and social-media bells and whistles, into the Democratic National Committee.

Obama's only response was a disparaging smile.

"You have to use your organisation to aid the candidate in 2016," Bill pressed Obama.

"Really?" Obama replied in a tone of undisguised sarcasm.

The two men went back and forth over the subject of where the money for Obama's campaign organisation had come from and how to allocate funds for the 2016 presidential election. Bill raised his voice. So did Obama.

Bill Clinton advises Obama with little success. Source: AP

As Bill Clinton went on about his managerial experience, Obama began playing with his BlackBerry under the table, making it plain that he wasn't paying attention to anything Clinton had to say. He was intentionally snubbing Clinton. Others around the table noticed Obama thumbing his BlackBerry, and the atmosphere turned even colder than before.

Hillary changed the subject again.

"Are you glad you won't have to campaign again?" she asked Obama. "You don't seem to ­enjoy it."

"For a guy who doesn't like it," Obama replied tartly, "I've done pretty well."

"Well," Bill said, adding his two cents, "I was glad to pitch in and help get you re-elected."

There was another long pause. Finally, Obama turned to Bill and said, sotto voce, "Thanks."

After the dinner, and once the Clintons had been ushered out of the family quarters, Obama shook his head and said, "That's why I never invite that guy over."

The book says Obama is looking for another version of himself to run in 2016. Source: AP

Obama's mini-me

Lately, Bill Clinton has become convinced that Obama won't endorse Hillary in 2016. During a gathering at Whitehaven, guests overheard Bill talking to his daughter Chelsea about whether the president would back Joe Biden.

"Recently, I've been hearing a different scenario from state committeemen," Clinton said. "They say he's looking for a candidate who's just like him. Someone relatively unknown. Someone with a fresh face.

"He's convinced himself he's been a brilliant president, and wants to clone himself — to find his Mini-Me.

"He's hunting for someone to succeed him, and he believes the American people don't want to vote for someone who's been around for a long time. He thinks that your mother and I are what he calls 'so 20th century.' He's looking for ­another Barack Obama."

It is looking unlikely Obama will endorse Hillary in 2016, sources tell Klein. Source: AP

Excerpted from "Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas" by Edward Klein. Out this week from Regnery Publishing.

This article was originally posted on the New York Post.

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Busted: What’s wrong with this picture?

The opening match between Brazil and Croatia. Source: AP

BRAZILIAN fans at the World Cup who were supposedly wheelchair bound have been caught jumping out of their seats prompting an investigation by police into possible ticket fraud.

The soccer fans were caught on CCTV and social media standing up out of their wheelchairs and cheering at the opening match in Sao Paulo between Brazil and Croatia, a sight that confused many onlookers.

Reported in The Telegraph , officials are now concerned that concession tickets designed for disabled fans are being sold on the black market and that buyers of these tickets are using wheelchairs to pass through check points without suspicion.

Scalpers have been selling the highly sought after tickets outside of stadiums and on Facebook with concession passes especially popular as each wheelchair ticket comes with a free companion pass.

Fans cheer before the opening match between Brazil and Croatia. Source: AP

But selling tickets for more than face value is a crime in Brazil with a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

That hasn't stopped a flourishing black market with fans eager to get their hands on limited tickets with reports Brazil matches are fetching around $1800, up to ten times the face value.

There are allegedly 22 pictures on CCTV showing wheelchair bound fans standing up at the stadium and around 30 photos from members of the public.

However proving the alleged fraud will be difficult as being wheelchair bound doesn't necessarily mean you can't stand up and the accusations have outraged some who have taken to Twitter to vent their anger.

More than 20,000 special-needs tickets have been set aside by FIFA for the duration of the month-long tournament with organisers saying that checks are in place to ensure they go to those who need them.

These tickets include access to the double-wide seats that Brazilian law guarantees for obese World Cup fans. The stadium in Rio de Janeiro has been fitted with wide-bodied seats to comply with the country's law that requires half-price, special-needs tickets for fans with a body mass index of 30 or higher.

Seating has become a huge headache for World Cup organisers. Source: AFP

However just like the alleged wheelchair fraud, these seats are being occupied by people who don't need that much extra space and FIFA says they can't do anything about it.

According to the World Health Organisation and Brazil Ministry of Health guidelines, those with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher can purchase one of the tickets. But this means that tall and skinny people, for example someone who is 1.8 metres tall and weighs around 100 kilograms, are eligible much to the frustration of authorities.

Reported in Bloomberg , World Cup's head of hospitality, Federico Addiechi, explained the situation.

"There are cases where a person doesn't look obese but meets the guidelines," he said after a briefing yesterday at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium, where the World Cup's July 13 final will be held. "We cannot decide you are not obese if the law says you are obese."

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The other Cannes festival

This year, Jared Leto talked to adoring fans in the advertising world. Source: AP

WHEN you think of Cannes, you think of film stars walking down red carpets next to the French Riviera.

So you would be forgiven for being confused about why #canneslions keeps popping up in your social media feed. Isn't it over? Wasn't the Cannes Film Festival in May?

There's actually a whole other festival in Cannes every year. No, not THAT festival (more on that later). It's the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Every year in June, the advertising world descends on Cannes for a week with copious amounts of backslapping about all the 'innovative' work they've produced in the previous 12 months, before all getting roundly smashed at the Gutter Bar before sunrise.

Patrick Stewart with his enormous social media appeal taught adlanders how to get it right. Source: Twitter

Between all the worshipping of chief creative officers, chief marketing officers and a bunch of people who are only really famous in adland is an increasingly impressive list of celebrities dragooned to talk about how their experiences relates to the world of advertising, branding and media.

This year, the creators of Game of Thrones, DB Weiss and David Benioff, was on hand to expound on the "power of story" while Rob Lowe gave his thoughts on authenticity. David Hasselhoff, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jared Leto, Armando Iannucci (Veep and The Thick of It), Ne-Yo, Kanye West, Bono, Patrick Stewart, Ralph Fiennes and Gisele Bündchen all made appearances on stage for the many seminars crammed into the week.

In the past few years, the likes of Bill Clinton, the late Lou Reed, Conan O'Brien, Anderson Cooper and P Diddy have graced the festival.

Bill Clinton was a speaker at Cannes in 2012. Source: AP

Adland gathers to debate ideas about how to make their work more effective, more attractive and more profitable. Namely, how to get you to watch/listen to/engage with the ads that sometimes don't even look like ads anymore.

A huge part of the Cannes Lions is the awards. To nab a coveted Lion confers the recipient all attendant bragging rights for the year (and, for some, the decade) to come. If an agency picks up a Lion, it'll will be on everyone's email signatures the next day. The awards are hugely expensive to enter, with each entry costing up to $2000 just to be in contention. There were rumours a certain Brazilian ad agency spent $7 million on entries in 2013.

Kanye West talked about, well, Kanye West at Cannes. Source: AP

The 2013 Cannes is where Australian agency McCann Melbourne came home with 28 Lions, including five Grands Prix for what is now the most awarded ad campaign in history — 'Dumb Ways to Die'.

Sorry if we just got the 'Dumb Ways to Die' ditty in your head. Source: Supplied

But more than the awards, the famous faces and the drinking is the networking. When you've got the most important brand marketers from all over the world in one little town, who between them controls billions of dollars, you can be sure that there's a lot of jostling, card-swapping and promises of "you know we can do that launch campaign better for you, let's do lunch when we get home". So there are a lot of parties. On expensive yachts. With overflowing alcohol.

Which brings this around to that other, other Cannes festival, the Hot d'Or, otherwise known as the Cannes Porn Festival, complete with its own set of prestigious awards. Sadly, the Hot d'Or shut up shop in 2001, with an one-off resurgence in 2009.

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The one letter that could hurt us all

The Opposition has criticised the Abbott government for confusion over its policy on East Jerusalem.

Cattle are loaded onto a ship for export at Darwin's East Arm Wharf. Source: News Limited

WORDS are the weapons of diplomacy, and even the tiniest change in language can be seen as a hostile barrage, as the Australian Government is discovering.

And the controversy is starting to look like a shambles. That's with both a capital S and a lower case S.

Two weeks ago the Government said it would no longer refer to East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of June, 1967 as "Occupied East Jerusalem".

In November, 1967 the UN Security Council used the term "occupied" and it has been the accepted description of the territory ever since, although there has been use of the word "disputed" as well.

A bitter reaction to its decision has forced the Government to downplay its importance to the extent that there now is a dizzying debate over whether "small o" occupied is just the same as "capital O" Occupied.

There have been attempts to placate angry members of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation — some of them our best Middle East trading partners — who are threatening to stop buying our farm products.

This is a timetable of the issue.

• June 5 Attorney General George Brandis to Senate committee: "The description of East Jerusalem as 'Occupied East Jerusalem' is a term freighted with pejorative implications, which is neither appropriate nor useful."

• June 6 Attorney General George Brandis in written statement: "The description of East Jerusalem as 'Occupied Jerusalem' is pejorative and it will not be the practice of the Australian Government to describe areas of negotiation in such judgmental language."

• June 13 Amid threats of trade retaliation by Arab nations, National Farmers Federation president Brent Finlay said "We are very concerned about it and we are working closely with Agriculture Minister (Barnaby Joyce). It is an unfortunate hiccup."

• June 13 Agricultures Minister Barnaby Joyce: "I acknowledge that this is a contentious discussion in the Middle East, and I just want to make sure that on our behalf that we continue to do what is I believe a noble pursuit, the provision of food, the provision of protein for the sustenance of people, and in the same breath making sure we get a better return back through the farm gate for Australian farming families."

• June 14 Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Houston, Texas: "There has been no change in policy. There's been a terminological clarification."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop are having to chose language carefully after the Government said it would no longer refer to "Occupied East Jerusalem". Source: News Corp Australia

• June 16 Letter from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to ambassadors from Islamic nations: "I emphasise there has been no change in the Australian government's position on the legal status of the Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem. Our position is consistent with relevant UN resolutions on the issue starting with UN security council resolution 242 and 338. Senator Brandis's statement was about nomenclature, and was not a comment on the legal status of the Palestinian Territories."

• June 19 Spokesman for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten: "The territory is occupied, and that's why Labor describes it like that."

• June 19 Head of the Palestinian delegation to Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, one of 18 ambassadors who met Foreign Minister Julie Bishop: "[Ms Bishop] said that Senator Brandis ... said Australian Government will not use the language of occupied with a capital 'O', as if it's a part of the name, but the Government will continue to use occupied East Jerusalem with a small 'o'."

Well I guess that settles it then.

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The problem with God in Australia

The High Court has ruled in favour of a challenge to government funding of the school chaplaincy program.

THE Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to funding chaplains in Australian schools, despite serious concerns that the system is failing our most vulnerable youth.

The High Court found yesterday that the funding model for the National School Chaplaincy Program was unconstitutional, but Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he wanted the initiative to continue. (It is most likely to be funded through state government grants.)

The case has raised serious concerns among the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, with allegations that chaplains' religious beliefs make them illsuited to support young people struggling with their sexuality.

The national body that represents chaplains rejects this, saying there is a lot of misinformation in the community about their role and qualifications.

LGBTI youth network Minus18 said the fear of discrimination was one of the major barriers to young people coming out of the closet.

"The ability to talk to someone is hugely important and, with the chaplaincy program in particular, you've got these people within the school who are renowned for having prejudice and who have a reputation for that," general manager Micah Scott told news.com.au.

"Whether that is the case or not with an individual chaplain, that reputation is a big enough barrier to stop a young person from seeking the support they need."

Where do school chaplains fit in our classrooms? Source: Supplied

A recent high school graduate, who spoke to news.com.au on the condition of anonymity, agreed that the perception of chaplains' prejudice was a major problem.

"As a closeted young gay person, I just didn't feel at all comfortable going to our chaplain for help. That wasn't because I thought he was homophobic or because I had a homophobic experience with him, but because I knew he was a religious chaplain and because of my sexuality, I just didn't think he could or would be able to provide the kind of support I needed," he said.

Labor Senator Louise Pratt has also been strident in her comments against the program, calling for the initiative to be scrapped in Parliament on Tuesday.

Citing a survey from gay rights organisation All Out, Senator Pratt said "students described chaplains helping them to 'pray the gay away' and advising them to sleep with a member of the opposite sex to 'correct' their same sex attraction".

"I have worked with school chaplains over the years and I have found them to be well-intentioned people. But I also know about the very real suffering that the anti-gay beliefs that some of them hold can cause LGBT young people, even when no harm is intended," Senator Pratt told Parliament.

"Any person giving counselling to our young people should have the proper qualifications, as recognised by organisations like the Psychological Association, and should not hold discriminatory views."

Mr Scott told news.com.au that there were "fantastic chaplains out there", but he had also heard of chaplains pushing religious doctrine on to students.

"There are a huge number of stories of young people who come to us who have come out and have been given either poor advice or been given advice that is very heavily skewed by religious doctrine or the personal beliefs of the chaplain," he said.

RELATED: High Court rules against federal government funding of school chaplains

There are conflicting views about the place of religion in schools. Source: AP

The National School Chaplaincy Association rejected that their workers were pushing religious doctrine, with its Peter James saying chaplains were required to be non-judgemental, non-coercive and supportive of all students.

"There has been an awful amount of misinformation," Mr James said.

Chaplains are required to be trained in youth work or another relevant discipline to Certificate IV level, the same as required for secular youth workers.

He said they were explicitly forbidden from proselytising and were given training on how to support and refer at-risk students, such as those struggling with their sexuality.

"Teachers do a great job, but they don't have time to help kids who are disengaged or unhappy. Chaplains are non-judgemental and trained to listen and care … they're somebody who's there to support the student thick and thin," Mr James said.

He said the facts didn't support allegations that chaplains were trying to convert students to religion.

"Around 2900 schools have chosen to have a chaplain, and in 2013, only one complaint nationally was received," Mr James said.

The National School Chaplaincy Association says chaplains are an important part of school communities. Source: News Limited

Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney Croome said good education for chaplains was the best way to improve the program.

His group supported a groundbreaking training session in northern Tasmania last week, led by Relationships Australia, that aimed to educate chaplains on how to tackle homophobia.

"I've seen the evidence of chaplain homophobia — that's very alarming. My response is that it highlights the importance of professional development.

"I don't think a chaplain's religious beliefs necessarily disqualifies them to support LGBTI students.

"The most responsible course of action to provide the schools the information they need so they can provide the best support and be as effective as possible.

"There's not an inherent incompatibility between the religious convictions of chaplains and challenging homophobia."

Mr Croome hopes the training program will be replicated in other states.

"I have an unshakable belief in the power of education to change people's hearts and minds," he said.

"To those who are stridently against school chaplaincy, I say you have every right to your views. Given that chaplains look like they are here to stay, it's important that we engage with them to provide the best possible support to LGBTI young people."

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