We describe an ultra-wide-bandwidth, low-frequency receiver recently installed on the Parkes radio telescope. The receiver system provides continuous frequency coverage from 704 to 4032 MHz. For much of the band ( ${\sim}60\%$ ), the system temperature is approximately 22 K and the receiver system remains in a linear regime even in the presence of strong mobile phone transmissions. We discuss the scientific and technical aspects of the new receiver, including its astronomical objectives, as well as the feed, receiver, digitiser, and signal processor design. We describe the pipeline routines that form the archive-ready data products and how those data files can be accessed from the archives. The system performance is quantified, including the system noise and linearity, beam shape, antenna efficiency, polarisation calibration, and timing stability.

SCAR, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, is, like the IAU, a committee of ICSU, the International Council for Science. For over 30 years, SCAR has provided scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty System and made numerous recommendations on a variety of matters. In 2010, Astronomy and Astrophysics from Antarctica was recognized as one of SCAR's five Scientific Research Programs. Broadly stated, the objectives of Astronomy & Astrophysics from Antarctica are to coordinate astronomical activities in Antarctica in a way that ensures the best possible outcomes from international investment in Antarctic astronomy, and maximizes the opportunities for productive interaction with other disciplines. There are four Working Groups, dealing with site testing, Arctic astronomy, science goals, and major new facilities. Membership of the Working Groups is open to any professional working in astronomy or a related field.

The Commission was created in 2006, in response to an initiative by members of the international interferometry community, and as a natural expansion of the work of the earlier Working Group on Optical/Infrared Interferometry. At that time, optical interferometry had been in regular use in modern astronomy for approximately 20 years, primarily with first and second generation prototype and experimental facilities. Also at this time, the first observatory-scale user facilities were coming into operation at ESO, Keck, and CHARA.

We present the results of two multi-wavelength studies of the angular diameters of the Mira-like stars ο Cet, W Hya and R Leo. The MAPPIT experiment was able to deliver diameters of these stars over a continuous wavelength region from 0.65 – 1 micron, while the Keck aperture-masking experiment was able to deliver diameters between 1.2 and 3.5 microns. Strong size variations with wavelength were recorded for all stars, and we discuss the implications for model atmospheres of these stars, and speculate on the necessity of including dust scattering in radiative transfer calculations.

A small number of Wolf-Rayet colliding-wind binaries studied at extremely high angular resolution show elegant dust plumes with an intuitive geometry: that of an Archimedian spiral. A great deal of fundamental information on the binary and the winds is encoded, ultimately teaching us about dust formation and wind-wind collision zones in these fascinating systems. New results are presented summarizing a concerted campaign encompassing a number of systems studied with various techniques over the last five years.

To say that the Brazilian scene has been volatile—politically and economically—during the past ten years is to risk an understatement. A mere listing of the presidents of Brazil during this limited period illustrates the point. It begins with the enormously popular— then and now—Juscelino Kubitschek, who represented the industrialization of Brazil and the move away from the coast with the decision to create a new capital in Brasilia. Then, the overwhelming electoral victory of Jânio Quadros—the enigma of Brazilian politics who had been such a successful Mayor and Governor of São Paulo only to resign the presidency after six months for reasons that still remain unclear today. Next came the then Vice President João Goulart, who was visiting Red China when he heard he was to become President. Although his powers were curtailed before he was allowed to take office, he served long enough to create an impression of corruption and leftward drift and the reality of almost runaway inflation—factors which led to the revolution of March, 1964, and the administration of Marshal Castello Branco.