ABC PM tonight 3/3/09

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Updated Tuesday, 3 March, 2009
Attack at the heart of cricket
Several people are dead and at least six members of the Sri Lankan cricket team have been wounded in a terrorist attack in the northern Pakistan city of Lahore. Unidentified gunmen fired on a convoy carrying Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricketers to the Gaddafi stadium for the third day of the second test match between the two countries. Freelance camera man Tony Bennett was in the stadium.
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What does the attack mean for cricket?
The attack on Sri Lankan players could make Pakistan a pariah state within the cricketing fraternity. But what can authorities do to counter the growing terror threat?
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RBA holds its nerve as markets panic
The Reserve Bank left the cash rate unchanged at 3.25 per cent despite renewed fears in financial markets that saw America's Dow Jones Index close below the 7000 mark for the first time in 12 years.
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The Government gives itself a tick on economic stimulus
The Government is getting bolder about claiming its economic stimulus last year has worked, although the Opposition still believes much of the money handed out was saved, not spent. While the Reserve Bank held off cutting rates again, the Government is reading it as a sign there's enough stimulus in the system for the time being. But it says it will do more if it has to.
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Toxic assets like poison in the economy: Rudd
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has likened toxic debts - the bad debts which emerged from the sub-prime crisis - to a poison in the bloodstream of the global financial system. The Prime Minister says that toxic assets have stopped the flow of credit around the world and into the Australian economy and has urged the next meeting of the G20 to address the problem.
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Predicting the downturn and what happens next
Stock markets around the world were hard hit again today -- in New York, for instance the Dow Jones Index closed lower than at any time since 1997. Professor Edward Leamer is director of the Anderson Forecast at the University of California Los Angeles and Charles R Morris is the author of a book called the 'Two Trillion Dollar Meltdown'. Both men predicted the crash, and here we compare and contrast their views on what's likely to happen next, and what governments need to do not just to emerge from recession but to avoid it happening again.
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EXTRA: PM extra: Extended interview with Charles R Morris Mp3 Windows Real
EXTRA: PM extra: Extended interview with Professor Edward Leamer Mp3 Windows Real

Qantas A380s grounded
All three of Qantas's new A380 super-jumbos have been out of service over the past day. Qantas says there was no safety risk, and that new types of planes always have teething problems. But after a series of groundings of A380s belonging to other airlines, the latest episode is likely to fuel further speculation about the reliability of the planes.
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Gale force winds and new fires tear over Victoria
Fierce gale force winds hit Victoria this afternoon, combined with high temperatures and dry soil. Four fires are still blazing around the state. Firefighters were forced to pull back from some areas to avoid being hit by falling tree branches.
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NSW to overhaul child protection system
The NSW Government has announced sweeping changes to the state's child protection services in response to a report which found the system was completely overwhelmed. One of the key changes will be to mandatory reporting requirements, meaning only children deemed to be at risk of significant harm will now be reported to DOCS.
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Gene therapy which could reverse blindness to be trialled on humans
A medical treatment which could reverse a common form of blindness will undergo human trials in Australia. The gene therapy has reversed blindness in animals and researchers at the Lions Eye Institute in Perth now want to test it on people with Age-Related Macular Degeneration in November.
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Down Jones and FTSE tumble, but ASX closes only one per cent down
Business and finance with Lexi Metherell.
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