Sydney - The fun of watching a James Bond film lies partially in spotting what the advertising industry calls product placement.

The brands on show be they of cars, watches, hotels or even locations have paid for the privilege of their association with the hunky celluloid spy and his world of glamour and sophistication.

Yet, it seems a bit of a cheat - cinemagoers, after all, have paid for their seats and have to sit through commercials even before the film begins - but Hollywood argues that the parade of products helps pay for the whiz-bang special effects.

Sydney - Heavy rain brought by tropical cyclones caused flooding in much of north Queensland, news reports said Wednesday.

The sugar-cane town of Ingham north of Townsville was the worst affected with 50 houses under water and hundreds more damaged.

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts told national broadcaster ABC some small towns might be cut off for weeks if more rain fell.

"The water seems to be staying up, it's not getting away, so we just hope that (another) cyclone doesn't form," he said.

Sydney, Feb 4 : The Great Barrier Reef's dream job is attracting jobseekers from all over the world - including the terrorism `sector'!

A man claiming to be the world''s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, has also applied for the job of caretaker on Hamilton Island.

According a video posted on YouTube, Bin Laden claims he is the ideal candidate for the job, citing his familiarity with "sandy areas" and experience in "large scale event co-ordination".

Sydney  - Toxic debt has beaten bromance and textaholic to become Australia's Word of the Year, contest organizer Macquarie Dictionary announced Wednesday.

Defined as lending that "proves subsequently to be financially worthless," the term won the title because of it's notoriety as the root cause of the financial crisis still shaking economies around the world.

Macquarie publisher Sue Butler said that "as a lexical creation (it has) a visceral impact."

Sydney  - Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd said Wednesday that crumbling commodity prices had halved its first-half profits.

BHP's net profit for the six months to December was down 57 per cent to 2.6 billion US dollars, from 6 billion US dollars in the corresponding period in the previous financial year.

The poor result reflected write-downs for mothballing its Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia and other projects.

BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers said the outlook as "weak, uncertain and volatile."

Sydne