Boy survives Vic car fire, but family dies

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy is the only survivor from a fiery smash between a car and a truck in Victoria, which killed four others believed to be members of his family.

Police initially believed the boy survived by being thrown from the vehicle before it caught fire, which happened near the rural community of Catani, southeast of Melbourne.

But truck driver Ken McLeod, of nearby Yannathan, says he helped pull the crying boy from the wreckage as the flames took hold.

"I went out around the other side and I got him out," he told ABC television.

"He said something about his brothers and sisters in this car, too."

Police say the car had the right of way on Friday morning when it appears the truck went through a stop sign and hit the vehicle.

The force of the impact pushed the car nearly 50 metres down the road, sent its engine tumbling into the ditch and ignited a massive fire.

The truck then rolled on top of it.

Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill says he couldn't believe the boy survived.

"It's just a miracle he's survived. We don't know how," he said.

The boy suffered only superficial injuries, and is being comforted in hospital by social workers.

It took nearly all of Friday to formally identify the four bodies found burnt inside the crushed car.

Police say the victims are a 37-year-old man, a 33-year-old woman, a six-year-old girl and two-year-old boy.

It's believed they are the surviving boy's father, mother, sister and brother, who all lived in nearby Poowong.

The 27-year-old truck driver, contracted by transport company Asixa, escaped with minor injuries and is under police guard in hospital.

Police on Friday night charged Jobandeep Gill, of Noble Park, with four counts of culpable driving causing death, four counts of dangerous driving causing death, one count of reckless conduct endangering life and one count of failing to stop at a stop sign.

He will remain under police guard until he appears in Melbourne Magistrates Court for a hearing expected on Tuesday.

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GM adds 842,000 cars to ignition recall

GENERAL Motors on Tuesday doubled to 1.6 million the number of small cars it is recalling to fix faulty ignition switches linked to multiple fatal crashes.

Just two weeks ago, GM announced the recall of more than 780,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s. It's now adding 842,000 Saturn Ion compacts, Chevrolet HHR SUVs and Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sports cars.

The company was immediately lambasted by a well-known safety advocate who says GM knew of the problem for years and waited too long to recall the cars even though people were killed because of the problem.

GM says a heavy key ring or jarring from rough roads can cause the ignition switch to move out of the run position and shut off the engine and electrical power. That can knock out power-assisted brakes and steering and disable the front airbags. The problem has been linked to 31 crashes and 13 front-seat deaths. In the fatalities, the airbags did not inflate, but the engines did not shut off in all cases, GM said.

The vehicles being recalled include: Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s from the 2005 through 2007 model years; Saturn Ion compacts from 2003 through 2007; and Chevrolet HHR SUVs and Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sports cars from 2006 and 2007. Most of the cars were sold in the US, Canada and Mexico.

According to a chronology of events that GM filed on Monday with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the company knew of the problem as early as 2004, and was told of at least one fatal crash in March of 2007.

GM issued service bulletins in 2005 and 2006 telling dealers how to fix the problem with a key insert, and advising them to tell customers not to dangle too many items from their key chains. But the company's records showed that only 474 vehicle owners got the key inserts.

GM thought the service bulletin was sufficient because the car's steering and brakes were operable even after the engines lost power, according to the chronology.

By the end of 2007, GM knew of 10 cases in which Cobalts were in front-end crashes where the air bags didn't inflate, the chronology said.

"They knew by 2007 they had 10 incidents where the air bag didn't deploy in this type of crash," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Center for Auto Safety.

"This is a case where both GM and NHTSA should be held accountable for doing a recall no later than the spring of 2007."

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Welsh brewer creates lamb-flavoured beer

A WELSH brewer has created a new beer with lamb flavour to mark St David's Day, the national day of Wales.

Conwy Brewery said its Sunday Toast has infused lamb in the brewing process, combining the aromas of a Sunday roast with a dark ale.

The North Wales brewery slow-roasted Welsh lamb before adding the dissolved meat juices and sugar and keeping the brew warm for a week.

"Seasonal beers are a speciality of ours, but we wanted to do something really different to celebrate our country's national day," spokesman Gwynne Thomas said.

Saint David's Day is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on March 1 each year.

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$2.5m of cannabis found in northern NSW

Police have seized more than 1200 cannabis plants, worth about $2.5 million, during raids in NSW. Source: AAP

MORE than 1200 cannabis plants valued about $2.5 million have been seized by police during raids in northern NSW.

The plants were found in bushland around Lillian Rock, Barkers Vale, Rappville and Woodburn during the latest round of the cannabis eradication program (CEP), which ran from Monday to Wednesday, police said.

More than $4 million of cannabis was found and destroyed after similar searches in the first week of February.

"The CEP has been running since the mid-1980s and, to date, has prevented cannabis with an estimated potential street value of more than $250 million reaching NSW streets," police said in a statement.

"The CEP is generally operational during cannabis-growing season, which stretches from the late spring through summer and into early autumn."

The drug squad, dog unit, aviation support branch and local police were involved in the raids.

More busts will take place in the coming months.

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Don't lose interest in Greste: colleague

A crowd has rallied in support of Aussie journalist Peter Greste who has been detained in Egypt. Source: AAP

A COLLEAGUE of imprisoned Australian journalist Peter Greste has urged the public and media not to lose interest in his case.

Speaking to a rally of about 20 people at Martin Place in Sydney, Al-Jazeera's Andrew Thomas said the case in Egypt was important for free press worldwide.

"Other countries will watch the... success Egypt has had locking up foreign journalists ... and they might try to do something similar," he said.

"That would mean the ... dark corners that governments don't want you to know about wouldn't be exposed."

The award-winning Mr Greste, bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed were arrested in December.

They're among 20 journalists accused of airing false news and misleading viewers about the political situation in Egypt.

Broadcaster Al-Jazeera held "a global day of action" for the trio in 30 cities worldwide and on social media on Thursday.

Mr Greste and his colleagues were denied bail at their first appearance in a Cairo court last week.

Amnesty International activism manager Chris Holley told AAP there was hope the men could be released on bail during their next court appearance on March 5.

"Our call is for them to be released unconditionally," he said.

"But if they're not released they should be given bail ... and I think there's a prospect that could happen."

He did admit it was hard to predict how the Egyptian government would act.

Greste's parents live in Brisbane and could not be at the protest.

In a letter, read by Mr Thomas, they thanked the small crowd and wished "peace and prosperity on the people of Egypt".

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Joyce says he's the man for the job

QANTAS chief executive Alan Joyce says he's the right man for the job of overseeing the tough measures needed to return the airline to profit.

He said their plan to axe 5,000 jobs, defer buying or sell aircraft and cut unprofitable routes would produce $2 billion savings and return Qantas to profitability in just three years.

Announcing Qantas results on Thursday, Mr Joyce revealed a $235 million loss.

But he rejected suggestions from, among others Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, that he should hand the job over to someone who could turn a profit.

"I have been CEO for five years and we have been profitable for most of that period of time and I believe I am the right person to make sure that we take this company through the challenges that we face," he told ABC TV.

Mr Joyce said the company faced severe challenges but there was a plan to turn the business around.

He said both sides recognised that Qantas was operating in a distorted market, a view shared by Treasurer Joe Hockey who acknowledged the Qantas Sale Act was impacting the company's ability to compete.

As well, Mr Hockey said, Qantas was competing against other state-owned airlines and Australia had an interest in having a national carrier.

Qantas was also taking steps to get its house in order, Mr Hockey said.

Mr Joyce rejected suggestions from some analysts that the company still hadn't taken the really tough decisions to cut unprofitable routes.

"But we have," he said.

"Every route that is left generates cash for us."

"If people do not believe they are the tough decisions needed to turn the business around, they are not paying attention to this business."

Mr Joyce said all the airline wanted was a fair go and that was not happening at the moment.

Competitor Virgin was allowed investment by three foreign government-owned airline partners to continue losses on Australian routes.

Mr Joyce said Qantas gave no assurance of keeping jobs in Australia in return for a government debt guarantee.

"The best way to guarantee the security of Qantas jobs is to have a profitable fit Qantas that can compete in the environment it's in," he said.

Mr Joyce said there were two issues - making internal changes to cut costs and levelling the playing field, either through a debt guarantee or amending the Qantas Sale Act.

He said the government was aware it needed to act soon.

But he's yet to hear from them on Thursday's announcement.

"The government has always been very clear that it's up to Qantas to manage its own business and we have had no dialogue about what this plan entails ... about getting government acceptance for it any way."

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Woman gives birth on NY street

A British woman has given birth on a New york street after having her taxi stolen. Source: AAP

A BRITISH woman has given birth in the street in New York City - after a taxi she waved down to take her to hospital was swiped by a passer-by.

Polly McCourt, 39, hailed the cab on Monday with the help of the doorman to her apartment block in the city's Upper East Side after she realised she was going into labour.

"He was trying desperately to hail a cab and a lady walked out five metres in front and hailed a cab and got into it," she said from her hospital bed.

"And I went, 'No, that's my cab, I want that cab'."

Her husband Cian McCourt, 40, who reportedly works for a New York law firm, was stuck in traffic when he received the call and arrived just after his wife gave birth to their daughter in the street during rush hour - a scene caught on camera by a passing news crew.

He said: "I knew instantly that it was Polly, but then I feared the worst. You think, 'She's been knocked down'."

Passers-by helped deliver the little girl, who was named Ila, and kept the pair warm with coats and scarves until an ambulance arrived and took them to Lennox Hill Hospital.

Ms McCourt was so grateful to one of them she gave her daughter her middle name, Isabelle, and is now keen to track her down after losing her phone number.

The episode has since been dubbed "miracle on 3rd Avenue".

The couple have two other children, Conor, six, and Adele, four, according to the New York Daily News, and reportedly moved to New York four years ago from Dublin.

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Bishop spiked rhino program, hearing told

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has spiked plans to help save the Sumatran rhinoceros. Source: AAP

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has spiked plans by the former Labor government to help save the Sumatran rhinoceros.

In June 2013, then foreign minister Bob Carr said Australia would provide $3 million over three years to help Indonesian authorities protect the species, of which there are estimated to be fewer than 200 remaining.

But the program did not and would not begin, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman Rod Brazier told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday.

"The current foreign minister has decided not to proceed with the program," he said.

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Tap-and-go to higher Vic crime rate

Victoria's crime rate has risen with drugs, family violence and deceptions among the causes. Source: AAP

TAP-AND-GO technology is helping make credit card fraud the fastest growing area of crime in Victoria.

Drugs and family violence also contributed to an overall 1.2 per cent jump in the crime rate for the 12 months to December 2013.

Deception offences rose by 42 per cent and drug offences jumped by 12.3 per cent.

The introduction of tap-and-go credit cards has made deception easier and police have again expressed concern about the technology, which allow customers to make purchases without a PIN or signature, and say negotiations continue with the banks about a solution.

The 42 per cent figure is up about 12 per cent on quarterly figures released last November.

"It is not a policing issue, it is a whole of community issue and everybody should be working together to try and address these issues and to make it very, very difficult for people to commit offences," Deputy Commissioner Lucinda Nolan said.

A Mastercard spokeswoman said the company is surprised police are concerned about tap-and-go technology since industry data reveals there's been no increase in fraud specifically relating to such cards.

"We have asked Victoria Police to clarify the source and nature of their crime statistics," she said.

Family violence is also up with a big jump in the number of intervention order breaches which have caused the category of other crimes to rise by 15.5 per cent.

Ms Nolan said breaches of intervention orders had significantly increased, but that did not mean they were not working, just that police were stronger in enforcement.

"So that when there are breaches, whether they are minor or major police are taking action," she told reporters on Wednesday.

Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said 40 per cent of crimes committed against a person occurred in the home.

"This underlines the impact of family violence," he said.

There were 12,607 more offences overall committed in Victoria over the year, a rise of 3.1 per cent.

Ms Nolan said methamphetamines are challenging cannabis for the drug related to the most offences, with ice continuing to have a very bad impact on the community.

"You see the impact it has, particularly on the regional centres and rural communities, it is absolutely huge, how it has impacted on those families and those local communities," she said.

But there was some good news for police, with robberies down by 15.4 per cent and property crimes decreasing by 2.6 per cent.

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Convicted rapist, murderer executed in US

A man convicted of raping and killing a teenage girl has been executed in the US state of Missouri. Source: AAP

THE US state of Missouri has executed a man convicted of abducting, raping and killing a teenage girl.

Michael Taylor, 47, was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, the Missouri Department of Public Safety said.

The execution came amid controversy over the chemicals being used to give death row inmates lethal injections in Missouri and other US states.

Taylor's was the fourth lethal injection in Missouri in as many months.

He was sentenced to death over the 1989 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl who was abducted at a school bus stop.

Taylor was executed after the US Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay.

He was pronounced dead at 12:10 am (0510 GMT) and made no final statement.

He declined to order a special last meal and was served a state-issued meal that included potato soup and a sandwich, the department said.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon also rejected a clemency request.

Nixon issued a statement asking the people of Missouri to remember the young girl killed, Ann Harrison. He noted that Taylor had pleaded guilty, was convicted and sentenced to die.

"That punishment has now been carried out," Nixon said.

He turned aside Taylor's pleas, which were based on the state's use of a secret compounding pharmacy for the lethal dose of pentobarbital and for executing previous inmates while they still had appeals pending, NBC News said.

Prior to this, the last execution was that of Herbert Smulls, who was declared dead on the night of January 29, a little over an hour before the legal period for his execution ended.

Since European manufacturers stopped providing pentobarbital for executions of humans, several states are running low on execution chemicals and turning to new suppliers or products that have not been widely approved.

This has led many US death row inmates to file suits on grounds they fear the new products could subject them to undue suffering.

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Ukraine disbands feared riot police

Ukraine's new leaders have promised to fight separatism after President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster. Source: AAP

UKRAINE'S new pro-Western leaders have disbanded the country's feared riot police as they seek to win confidence in their efforts to forge a unity government.

The interim authorities are grappling with the dual threats of separatism and a looming debt default as they try to piece the former Soviet nation back together following the weekend ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Protests that started in November over Yanukovych's decision to ditch a historic European Union trade deal in favour of closer ties with former master Russia culminated in a week of Kiev carnage that claimed nearly 100 lives.

Yanukovych and his tight clique of security chiefs and administration insiders are widely believed to have gone into hiding in the Russian-speaking southern peninsula of Crimea, which is now threatening to secede from Ukraine.

The interim leaders' headaches are compounded by Moscow's decision to freeze payments on a massive bailout package that Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to Yanukovych as his reward for rejecting closer EU ties.

The Ukrainian government faces foreign debt payments of $US13 billion ($A14.46 billion) in 2014 and has less than $US18 billion in its fast-depleting coffers. It's a grim equation that has forced it to seek as much as $US35 billion from Western states.

Both the United States and Britain have publicly backed the idea of putting together an economic rescue for Ukraine, which would be overseen by the International Monetary Fund.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Secretary William Hague also rejected Russia's claim on Tuesday that Ukraine was being forced to make a historic choice between the East and West.

"This is not a zero-sum game. It is not a West versus East," said Kerry after hosting Hague in Washington.

But EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton wrapped up a two-day visit to Kiev on Tuesday by mentioning only a short-term economic solution for Ukraine, while saying nothing about extending the billions of dollars in credit requested by interim leader Oleksandr Turchynov.

Little appears to unite the vast nation of 46 million - splintered between the Ukrainian-speaking west, where pro-European sentiment runs high, and a heavily-Russified southeast - more than a shared aversion for the Berkut riot police.

The elite units carried shields and Kalashnikov rifles as they cracked down on protesters in Kiev and brutally beat those detained. In one incident that spread on the internet, they forced one man to strip naked in the freezing cold and parade in front of a police camera.

But acting interior minister Arsen Avakov announced on his Facebook page that he was dissolving the feared unit, effective immediately.

"The Berkut is no more," the 50-year-old wrote.

Avakov promised to disclose further details on Wednesday and said nothing about how he would deal with a possible insurrection from one of the country's best-armed and trained forces.

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Vic man pulls gun on cops, two arrested

TWO people have been arrested in Melbourne after a six-hour police search for a driver who threatened officers with a gun.

A man and woman, both in their 20s, were arrested at a Croydon home in the city's outer east just after 9pm (AEDT) on Wednesday, a police spokeswoman said.

Police had been searching for a driver who was pulled over in the Chirnside Park shopping centre car park earlier on Wednesday.

The driver threatened officers with a firearm before fleeing at 2.40pm (AEDT), police say.

A police helicopter and the dog squad were called in to help local officers find the man.

The man was believed to have been holed up in a suburban home.

The search had focused on a couple of properties before the couple was arrested at Nyranda Court.

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