Pregnant woman airlifted to hospital

A PREGNANT woman has suffered serious head injuries after a car crashed into a northwest Sydney house, also injuring a teenage girl and another woman.

THE 25-year-old, who is four months pregnant, has been airlifted to Westmead Hospital with serious head and leg injuries, police say.

The girl, 14, also suffered head and leg injuries and was taken to hospital along with a 48-year-old woman, who sustained pelvic injuries."All three remain in a stable condition," police said.They were hit while standing on the front veranda of a Windsor Downs home on Saturday afternoon.The male driver was treated by paramedics and has been taken for mandatory drug and alcohol testing.His male passenger wasn't hurt.Police have established a crime scene and are investigating.

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Hendra virus kills NSW horse

Hendra virus has killed a horse in northern NSW, causing authorities to quarantine a property. Source: AAP

HENDRA virus has killed a horse in northern NSW, causing authorities to quarantine a property as they run tests on its stablemates and the five people who handled the animal.

IT'S the first case of Hendra discovered in NSW this year.

"The 31-year-old stockhorse gelding died overnight on Thursday after being found in a dam earlier that day and receiving treatment from a private veterinarian for very low body temperature," NSW deputy chief vet Therese Wright said in a statement."Three people who handled the horse plus the veterinarian and an assistant are being assessed and monitored by NSW Health."In recent weeks no horses have moved off the property, west of Murwillumbah, and there are no dogs or cats about, Ms Wright added.The paddock where the horse was kept "has regular flying fox activity," she said.Horses are believed to contract the Hendra virus from feed contaminated by urine, saliva or birthing fluids from flying foxes."Do not place feed and water under trees and cover feed and water containers with a shelter so they cannot be contaminated from above," Ms Wright said.Hendra virus was found in four horses and a dog across four separate mid-north coast properties last year."Winter is the season when horses have been infected with Hendra in NSW in the past so now is the time to get a vaccine booster for your horse," Ms Wright said.In Queensland four people have been killed by Hendra virus since 1994.And in December councils across the state were given permission to trim trees and use smoke, lights and loud noises to drive flying fox colonies away from urban areas without needing a permit."If a horse becomes sick, owners should contact their veterinarian immediately," Ms Wright warned.

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Another Tamil man sets himself on fire

ANOTHER Tamil man has set himself alight, the latest in a spate of self-immolation cases involving asylum seekers who fear being sent back to Sri Lanka.

THE 40-year-old man splashed himself with petrol and ignited it, but his housemates intervened and managed to put out the fire.

It happened late on Friday at a home in the Melbourne suburb of Noble Park, according to a statement from the Tamil Refugee Council.There were similar incidents in May, when Leo Seemanpillai burned to death outside his Geelong home, and also in April when a Sydney-based Tamil man also set himself alight but survived with burns to 75 per cent of his body.In the latest case, the man suffered burns to his legs and was taken by ambulance to Dandenong Hospital."We are very lucky on this occasion that the man's housemates were aware of what he was planning to do otherwise we may have had another death on our hands," council spokesperson Sri Samy said."I have had seven young men tell me in the past few weeks that they are thinking of doing this."They are fearful of being sent back to Sri Lanka and say they would prefer to die here than be sent back to torture, which is what the Australian government is doing to many Tamil asylum seekers."The man involved in this latest case came to Australia by boat in 2012, and he was on a bridging visa awaiting assessment of his asylum claim.He fled Sri Lanka, leaving his wife and daughter behind, after security police broke his legs.The council said last week he had learned his brother, held in a Sri Lankan prison for four years, had disappeared and was feared dead.The man feared the same fate if returned to Sri Lanka."The previous Labor government, and the current Coalition government, have sent back more than 1000 Tamil asylum-seekers under an enhanced screening process," Mrs Samy also said."That does not allow time for proper assessment of asylum claims."She called on Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to alleviate fear among Tamil asylum seekers by granting protection to genuine refugees.* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467

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Royals defend apartment spending

Renovations of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's apartment will cost UK taxpayers STG4 million. Source: AAP

THE British royal family has defended spending a seven-figure sum refurbishing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Kensington Palace apartment.

THE taxpayer will foot the bill for extensive work on the property, including installing a new roof, overhauling the electrics and carrying out significant plumbing works.

A royal spokesman said repairs and refurbishments - reported to cost in the region of STG4 million ($A7.30 million), though this figure was not confirmed by the royal household - would also see a "significant amount of internal building" to "return the residence to function as a living space".William and Kate's Kensington Palace apartment was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was the home of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. Margaret remained there after their divorce and lived there until her death in 2002.The living space was last refurbished in 1963."This is the Duke and Duchess's one and only official residence. It is here that they plan to stay for many, many years to come," a royal spokesman said."We also had to take into account the fact that Kensington Palace is a scheduled ancient monument, and all elements of the refurbishment had to be agreed with English Heritage. Often this meant ensuring a high standard of work in line with the historical significance of the Christopher Wren building."He said William and Kate "paid privately" for all the internal furnishings, including carpets and curtains. They were also at pains to ensure that the specification is not extravagant."As with any other part of the estate, it was the royal household (TRH) who were responsible for the refurbishment of the residence - where they could in the course of the procurement process, TRH helped to bear down on cost," he added."The household oversaw the planning, tendering and project management of the refurbishment and were responsible for the budget and spend."

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WA Police charge former hostel warden

CHILD abuse squad detectives have charged a 69-year-old West Australian man, who is currently in prison, with two additional charges relating to historic child sex offences.

POLICE allege the offences occurred between 1975 and 1988 when the offender was a warden at a regional WA hostel.

He is expected to appear in the Katanning Magistrates Court on July 15.

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Thai govt to mediate in Aussie's case

THAILAND'S foreign ministry is pressing for a mediated settlement in a bid to end a legal conflict between the Royal Thai Navy and an Australian journalist who faces a possible lengthy jail term over defamation charges.

ALAN Morison, originally from Melbourne, and Thai reporter Chutima Sidasathian face jail terms of up to seven years on the charges of criminal defamation and breaches of the Computer Crimes Act.

The charges came after Morison, editor of the online English language news service, PhuketWan, in July last year republished excerpts of a Thomson Reuters report alleging the involvement of Thai navy personnel in the trafficking of ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.The navy later launched a case against Morison and Chutima, but only recently began legal proceedings against Thomson Reuters and its reporters, who were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.Morison and Chutima made brief court appearances last month, but no pleas were entered. Their next court appearance is scheduled for March 18, 2015.But a senior Thai foreign ministry official, Songsak Saicheu, director-general of the Americas Department, says the ministry is working closely with the Thai navy and the Australian embassy in a bid to settle the matter out of court.Mr Songsak told reporters the four-way consultations would include the navy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Australian embassy, and Morison."So the navy is ready to consider any possibility that if anything can be settled out of court, of both parties are satisfied with the conversation, with the deal, together it can be possible," Songsak said.Thailand's National Human Rights Commission had also taken steps to mediate between the journalists and the navy. But talks previously scheduled for May 23 were scuttled a day after the Thai military staged a coup d'etat.The foreign ministry's stance comes as Thailand is under pressure from the US over its rights and human trafficking performance in recent years, and faces a possible downgrade with the release of the State Department's 2014 "Trafficking in Persons" report.Morison welcomed the Thai ministry's intervention in the case."Any possibility of an outcome at which we could all walk away content would be excellent," Morison told AAP."It would be great. If the (Thai) foreign ministry is working behind the scenes and taken note of what's been said in Washington that would be fantastic. That's really good news," he said.The Thai National Human Rights Commission has rescheduled a mediation meeting of the parties for July 7.

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Proudest mum sees top five graduate

SHE just had to be the proudest mother in the country.

FIVE of her own graduating on the same day, and they were five of the smartest, happiest and furriest graduates you will ever see.

Overjoyed mum Olwyn watched on as her top five; Rosie, Richie, Riley, Robbie and Ruby all graduated with flying colours as fully fledged Guide Dogs at the organisation's base in Glossodia in western Sydney on Friday.There wasn't a mortar board in sight, but plenty of tasty treats, sloppy licks and maybe a celebratory bark or two for some of the cleverest canines in the country.Make no mistake, after six months of extensive training, these gorgeous Labradors are the best of the best and with a bright, rewarding future ahead of them you couldn't stop mum's tail from wagging.It costs $30,000 to train up each dog and after graduation at 18 months of age, they are paired up with a suitable handler,There are 250 working guide dogs in NSW and 40 blind or vision impaired people waiting for a dog which makes Olwyn, a 'prize bitch' in any vernacular, even more valuable."Olywn has always been easy going and very calm, she is a great mother and she always keeps her pups under control," explains owner Sally Gorman."Maybe that is why the pups are so successful. We are extremely proud of her and her dogs."It is the perfect combination of having a dog and doing some good for us."Puppy Raisers, families who help prepare a puppy for its potential career as a guide dog, are almost as important as the dogs themselves."It's a good way to help out," says Rebecca Smith, 21, whose looked after Riley before his rise to a Guide Dog and whose current charge the sleepy-eyed Wayne is the eighth puppy her and her family have raised.The puppies join families at two months and stay for around a year."We had another dog and we felt like it needed some company and wanted to see how it would work out and it has obviously worked out really well."It is rewarding and a lot of fun that is why we continue to stay involved."Rebecca looks on as graduation photos are taken, and taken and taken.The bond between puppy raiser and puppy after a year obviously becomes a strong one. So how hard is it to give them back?"I remember the first one, me and mum got a bit teary, but as much as it is hard to say goodbye you know it is going to a good home, going to someone who needs it," Rebecca says.

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PM not concerned about ministers' safety

PM Tony Abbott says he's not concerned about the safety of his ministers during public protests. Source: AAP

THE government isn't concerned about the safety of its members, despite reports four ministers have had their security detail beefed-up, the prime minister says.

"VERY, very occasionally" some security would be required, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday, adding that people had the right to express their views and protest.

"Very, very rarely there are protests, occasionally those protests get ugly," he told reporters in Sydney.His comments come as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was targeted by feisty protesters as she opened the C20 conference at the University of Melbourne on Friday morning."It shouldn't happen, I don't think it is a very Australian thing to do, to try prevent someone from speaking, to prevent someone from visiting some place where their duty calls them," Mr Abbott said.Protests, he said, should always be conducted in a "fair and respectful manner"."But it seems a few people did go over the top," he said, after a man was arrested for lunging at the car that Ms Bishop was travelling in.Treasurer Joe Hockey, Ms Bishop, Education Minister Christopher Pyne and Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert have been assigned extra protection from the Australian Federal Police, Fairfax reports.

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Labor, coalition fight for rural affection

IF you believe Labor, they are the party for farmers and rural Australia.

IF you believe the government, that's a complete joke.

Parliament took a country tone on Thursday when Labor's agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon brought on debate about the budget's impact on regional Australia.He was concerned about the fuel excise hike's impact on rural residents, which he says will go down as the Abbott government's "worst broken promise".Mr Fitzgibbon is behind Labor's new "country caucus" made up of regional MPs and senators who will influence party policy on rural issues.Labor has long been a champion of the bush, given it was partly born out of the shearing sheds of rural Queensland, Mr Fitzgibbon told AAP."Country Labor has been successful in NSW and it can be successful nationally," he said in a statement.But the coalition is having none of that.Liberal MP Dan Tehan derided Mr Fitzgibbon's topic for debate, given it came just after its country caucus was publicly announced."That's why we have this (debate) here today," he said."What an absolute joke."Mr Tehan said the country caucus came too late."You all should be ashamed of yourself, starting in the year 2014 a regional caucus and coming in here telling us who should stand up for regional and rural Australia."Nationals deputy leader Barnaby Joyce joined in the derision.If there was a friend for regional Australia, it was clear which side of the chamber they would find them in, he said.

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Carr dishes up conundrum for NSW govt

EIGHT years after ending his reign over NSW, Bob Carr is still giving the state Liberals a headache.

THIS time, he's forced Premier Mike Baird to reconvene a "slimmed-down" joint sitting of parliament.

The procedure is so the former premier and foreign minister can be excused from the Senate and return to private life.Mr Baird was left with a conundrum after Mr Carr decided to retire from federal politics despite winning his Senate seat last year.The premier received legal advice that Mr Carr's resignation wasn't constitutional and a joint sitting of the NSW parliament was needed to replace him.But the problem was parliament was on Thursday preparing to close its doors for its winter recess and not planning to sit again until August, well after the July 1 date of the new Senate term.The premier eventually decided to hold a very short joint sitting session in July, which would only last a few minutes, to sort the issue out.Once that happens, Labor's Deb O'Neill will formally replace Mr Carr in the Senate.

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Ferry fraudster Smith 'had no choice'

A FORMER Sydney Ferries boss who racked up more than $200,000 on the company credit card says he felt he had no choice because he couldn't tell his emotionally fragile wife how desperate the family's financial situation had become.

FORMER naval admiral Geoffrey Smith on Thursday told his sentencing hearing he was hired to help turn the troubled transport company around in August 2006.

By early 2009, allegations of rorting had surfaced and he was brought up before the corruption watchdog.He has now pleaded guilty to one charge of cheating or defrauding the company he directed.Smith said two fatal crashes on Sydney Harbour in 2007 ushered in a five-month inquiry and intense scrutiny.On the home front, his wife - who had previously been hospitalised and subjected to electroconvulsive therapy in a battle with depression - was diagnosed with cancer."I'm deeply ashamed," Smith told the Sydney District Court."I've let down a lot of people and I've done something contrary to all the values I've lived my whole life."He said he always intended to reimburse Sydney Ferries for his personal expenses, and with a crippling monthly mortgage of $11,000 and medical bills stacking up, Smith says he knew he needed to sell his home in leafy northern Sydney.But he couldn't tell his wife.They'd been married for 26 of his navy years and moved 32 times."She never asked for anything except that when the time came for me to retire we would buy a house and settle down and have a semi-normal life," Smith said."I was intensely worried that if I spoke to her about selling the house it would have a profound impact on her."When he eventually spoke to his wife about the "parlous" state of the family books, the global financial crisis was in full swing, and the house's value had dropped from an estimated $2.2 million to $1.86m - too little to settle Smith's debts.But Crown prosecutor Sara Bowers said Smith was spending Sydney Ferries' money on extravagances including a family trip to New Zealand, jewellery, a new swimming pool and two BMWs, including one for his "bedridden" wife."Not the necessities of life, are they," she said."I didn't think I had a choice," Smith said.Smith says he still wants to pay the missing money back using earnings from his retail job at hardware chain Bunnings and his superannuation.Judge Michael Finnane has indicated he intends to sentence Smith to two years, but that this may be served in the community under an intensive correction order, rather than in jail.The hearing resumes in August.

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Psychiatric drugs soar among Aussie kids

ADHD medication-use in Australia has jumped 35 per cent in a four-year period. Source: AAP

THE use of powerful psychiatric drugs is soaring among Australian children as young as 10, research shows.

THE number of prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs jumped 49 per cent among 10 to 14 year olds over a four-year period, according to a study of government subsidised prescriptions.

The number of prescriptions for antidepressants increased by more than a third in that age group, according to figures for 2009 to 2012 published in the latest issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.Among people of all age groups, the study shows a 26 per cent increase in ADHD medication, a 23 per cent increase in antipsychotics and a 16 per cent increase in antidepressants.There has been a 35 per cent jump in the use of the ADHD medication Ritalin.Part of the reason for this is an increase in the number of teenagers and adults using the medication.The study shows ADHD medication increased 71 per cent for 20 to 24 year olds and 37 per cent for people aged 25 and older.The rise was 26 per cent for children aged three to nine, 15 per cent for 10 to 14 year olds, 33 per cent for 15 to 19 year olds.Research leader Professor Iain McGregor called for a discussion about whether the benefits of medication outweigh the hazards, particularly in children and in those suffering mild to moderate distress."We need to have a national debate about what is driving this phenomenon."Why are we so reliant on meds for our mental wellbeing?"Clinical Psychologist Andrew Fuller described the study as "massively" concerning, but not surprising."We seem to have a growing proportion of young people showing signs of vulnerability in terms of mental health issues.Some of the prescriptions could be partly because of the agitation of the patient or their parent, or anxiety of the doctor who wants to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, he says."Often the medication is seen as the solution. ADHD medication is highly prescribed, but sadly very rarely given together with other forms of treatment."For depression, talk therapy is very powerful. So is exercise or meditation techniques."These could be used on their own or together with medication, he says. But they take longer than medication to kick in.

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ANAO says Customs missing most contraband

CLOSE to half a million prohibited items could have evaded Customs mail screening in 2012-13, allowing guns, drugs and quarantine risk items into the community.

THE Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) says Customs' seizure of 67,123 prohibited imports represented around 13 per cent of potential prohibited imports.

In a 2012 report on its own performance, Customs cited the increasing number of successful seizures of contraband and concluded that this demonstrated "low level of leakage of a small number of prohibited imports of a minor nature."But the ANAO said Customs really didn't know as it had never calculated its leakage rate - done by sampling cleared mail items.ANAO did its own calculations and estimated Customs missed 467,893 prohibited items in 2012-13."Customs' high estimated leakage rate, particularly in unscreened non-letter class mail would suggest that Customs' screening activities miss a large number of prohibited imports," it said.ANAO acknowledged screening was a challenging job.In 2012-13, Australia Post reported that around 180 million international mail items arrived in Australia. Over the last five years, parcels have increased 200 per cent with the rise in online shopping.Most pose no threat but some contain drugs, guns and risky plant or animal products.International mail arrives at four Australia Post gateway facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth where it's screened by Customs and Agriculture visually and by x-ray scanners and sniffer dogs.Where previously everything was screened, it's now done according to risk assessment.Since 2006-07 the number of items screened by Agriculture has reduced by 76 per cent and 45 per cent for Customs. The government provided funding this year to increase the screening rate.ANAO said Customs described its targeting approach as "intelligence-led and risk-based".But in practice targeting decisions were often not documented and did not align with risk analysis, providing little assurance that it was adequately and consistently targeting high risk mail groups.Customs and the Department of Agriculture have agreed to ANAO recommendations to improve screening procedures.

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Burned Ukrainian boy jubilant he can walk

IHOR Lakatosh struggles to describe his life before surgery, when his severe burns went untreated for years in his native Ukraine, leaving him with one arm fused to his body, unable to walk and abandoned by his mother.

THE 11-year-old boy, however, smiles widely and repeatedly makes the sign of the cross when he describes how he feels now, after a series of surgeries and physical therapy at a Boston charity hospital.

"Thank you I can walk. Thank you I can walk. Thank you Lord, I can walk," he says through an interpreter.Ihor returned to Boston early this year for a second round of procedures, and has been spending time showing off his newfound ability to walk, take off his jacket and climb onto a bed.No one knows the details surrounding the fire that burned 30 per cent of Ihor's body when he was about three years old. He was severely malnourished and unable to walk or bend his arms when neighbours in Lviv, Ukraine, urged his mother to take him to a hospital in 2011, doctors said. She did, and never came back.The hospital couldn't pay for extensive treatment of Ihor. Staff there thought he was mentally impaired and took him to a special orphanage for children with cerebral palsy.The orphanage director contacted a Ukrainian burn physician, who got in touch with Boston-based anesthesiologist Dr Gennadiy Fuzaylov, also Ukrainian, and sent him a photo of the boy.Fuzaylov and plastic surgeon Dr Daniel Driscoll run a non-profit organisation, Doctors Collaborating to Help Children, which works to improve medical care for children in various countries. Through the organisation, they brought Ihor to Boston's Shriners Hospital for Children two years ago. The philanthropic hospital specialises in severe burns.He was about 8 or 9 years old when he arrived and weighed less than 13.6 kilograms, half the average weight for a boy his age. The boy hadn't walked since he was burned."His initial surgery was done to bring his arm away from his body where it had completely scarred to his torso. That was a big one," Driscoll said. Other operations gave Ihor the ability to bend his knees and each was followed by extensive physical therapy to straighten elbows, shoulders and legs.Physicians struggled to figure out why the boy wasn't eating properly, until they discovered 14 rotten teeth they had to extract.Doctors also determined that Ihor wasn't mentally impaired at all; he simply had never been to school and his time spent with mentally impaired children also undermined his development.Ihor was sent back to the orphanage in Ukraine after his first set of surgeries and will return there next month where he remains up for adoption.But for now, he is focused on enjoying his new life in his improved body, relishing his favourite food (chicken) and trying to entertain just about everyone around him. The painful surgeries and therapies have not diminished Ihor's enthusiasm to reclaim his childhood."I can do everything now. I can go to school ... I can go outside and play. I can eat by myself. I can go home and do my homework. I can go to bed by myself," he said through an interpreter. "I can do everything by myself. I can live a life now."

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Australia 'on notice' to protect reef

Leonardo DiCaprio has spoken of the devastation he's witnessed on the Great Barrier Reef. Source: AAP

THE World Heritage Committee has given Australia seven months to prove it is protecting the Great Barrier Reef or risk having the reef listed as in danger.

UN cultural agency UNESCO warned Australia of the "serious decline in the condition" of the reef and said "a business as usual approach to managing the property is not an option".

UNESCO's annual World Heritage Committee meeting in Doha on Wednesday called on Australia to submit a report on its actions by February 1, 2015.A decision will be assessed on whether Australia has implemented a list of recommendations set out by the committee in 2012.In documents presented at the meeting on Wednesday, UNESCO raised particular concern about the approval in December of the Abbot Point coal port and allowing the dumping of three million tonnes of dredge waste within the marine park waters.Any in-danger listing for the reef would admit Australia to an undesirable club that includes the likes of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has all five of its World Heritage sites on the danger list.The committee welcomed progress made by Australia, specifically around water quality and its endorsement of a 2013 Reef Water Quality Protection Plan.Australia's intention to restrict future developments to current port blueprints along the Queensland coast was also commended.But the committee added that because the Queensland Ports Strategy could not be applied retrospectively, Australia needed to ensure developments outside these areas are not approved.It requested Australia ensure the decision to dump the spoil offshore wouldn't impact the reef's "overall universal value" and was the least damaging option available.WWF-Australia spokesman Richard Leck, who attended the Doha meeting, says the committee has effectively put Australia on notice to prove it is protecting the reef."The committee has stood firm on the need for stronger reef protection," he told AAP."They've really put the government on notice that they need to lift their game."Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche says the committee has delivered a vote of confidence in Australia's management of the reef."The decision is global acknowledgment that Australia is on track to deliver a long-term plan for conservation of the Great Barrier Reef's outstanding universal value," he said.Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the World Heritage Committee had recognised the significant work and progress made by the state and federal governments in managing and protecting the reef.He said protecting the reef was an "ongoing challenge" but he's confident Australia is up to the task.The state and federal governments jointly contribute $180 million a year to protecting the reef, including work toward improving water quality, he said.Mr Hunt said the decision to approve the Abbot Point project complied with Australia's obligations under the World Heritage Convention and was subject to rigorous environmental assessment.Australian Marine Conservation Society reef spokeswoman Felicity Wishart said Australia needed to take urgent and concrete action to ensure the reef wasn't put on the committee's list of shame."The first step must be to immediately ban the dumping of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Area," she said.She said this was an outdated practice that polluted the reef waters.

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Slipper says he's been vindicated

James Ashby says he is ditching his case against former parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper (pic). Source: AAP

FORMER house of representatives speaker Peter Slipper says sexual harassment claims by a former staff member caused enormous personal stress which require ongoing psychiatric treatment.

MR Slipper said he'd now been vindicated by the decision of James Ashby to drop his sexual harassment claim.

He said the impact of those allegations had been "immeasurable and irreparable.""The allegations brought by Mr Ashby have caused enormous personal stress which has required ongoing psychiatric and psychological treatment and many weeks of inpatient hospital care," he said in a statement on Wednesday."My mental illness is both ongoing and debilitating."Mr Ashby announced on Wednesday he would drop his legal action.That started in 2012 when he revealed lurid details of alleged sexual harassment by Mr Slipper, then the Labor government-appointed house speaker.His appointment was highly controversial as it had increased Labor's majority in the finely balanced parliament. At the height of the scandal, Mr Slipper stood down from the speaker job.In a scathing decision in 2012, Federal Court Justice Steven Rares threw out Mr Ashby's case, finding his main purpose was to pursue a political attack against Mr Slipper.However, the full bench of the Federal Court reversed that decision and the case was set to proceed on June 30.Mr Ashby said he was aware of reports Mr Slipper was mentally unwell and he did not want to continue lengthy proceedings that could cause further harm."After deep reflection and consultation with those close to me, I now have decided to seek leave to discontinue my Federal Court action against Peter Slipper," he said in a statement."This has been an intense and emotionally draining time for me and my family, taking its toll on us all."Mr Ashby also cited the potential costs, given the Abbott government had confirmed the Commonwealth continued to cover Mr Slipper's legal fees.He said this kind of "deep pocket litigation" was fundamentally unfair for an ordinary person seeking justice.Mr Slipper said the decision came as a complete surprise and it meant no court had ever found sexual harassment occurred."I very much regret that these horrendous allegations have meant that I was never able to complete my reform agenda for the House of Representatives," he said.However, Mr Slipper, 64, still faces three criminal charges relating to dishonest use of a taxpayer-funded Cabcharge card for trips to wineries near Canberra in 2010, before he became speaker.After failing in a Supreme Court bid to have those charges thrown out of court, he's now set to argue they should be dropped on grounds of his mental illness. That's listed for the ACT Magistrates Court for next Wednesday.

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Bitcoin faces biggest threat yet

THE bitcoin digital currency system is in danger of losing its credibility as an independent payment system because of the growing power of a group that runs some of the computers behind it.

IN recent weeks, a British-based "mining pool" called GHash has amassed nearly half of the Bitcoin computing power and has briefly gone over 50 per cent. Miners operate the computers that keep track of bitcoins and create additional coins.

Miners pool their computing power to spread the financial risk of their operations. If GHash amasses more than half of the computing power devoted to bitcoin, it could in theory control the flow of transactions, freeze people out of the network and keep all future bitcoins for itself.Although GHash says it's committed to preserving bitcoin as a trustable technology, the mere fact that one player can amass majority control could undermine trust in the currency, which is worth only what people are willing to pay for it."The entire premise of bitcoin relies on the fact that no single authority would control the majority of the mining power," said Ittay Eyal, a Cornell University researcher who studies bitcoin vulnerabilities.The value of bitcoins has fallen 6 per cent in a week to around $US600 ($A649) as the threat posed by GHash has become clearer, although the decline is within the range of normal fluctuations for the volatile currency.Bitcoins allow people to send money over the internet without going through banks. This means transaction costs are low, but it also means they're useful for illegal activities such as money laundering and drug sales.Bitcoins have also become a target of speculators betting on a continued run-up in the currency. Its value has grown a hundredfold over two years.From a technical standpoint, bitcoins are sequences of numbers, painstakingly produced by computers churning through millions of calculations. Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a virtual public ledger, known as the blockchain. Miners are in charge of maintaining the blockchain. As their computers perform the calculations to do that, the process rewards them with newly minted bitcoins.A single mining computer might take years to produce a single block of coins, and there's no way to know when that might happen. In pools, miners divide the bitcoins they create among themselves in proportion to the work done, providing with them with a steadier stream of income. The pools aren't created to threaten the trust placed in bitcoin; it's a side effect of the pool's growth.GHash is controlled by a British company, CEX.IO Ltd. The company said in a statement on Monday that it wants to protect bitcoin, but it doesn't want to turn away people from the pool or impose other temporary solutions to back away from the 50 per cent threshold.GHash said it's arranging a "round table" meeting of key players in the bitcoin system in July to "with the aim of discussing and negotiating collectively ways to address the decentralisation of mining as an industry".

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Chris Martin serenades fans in Sydney park

Chris Martin has serenaded hundreds of fans in a small inner-western Sydney park. Source: AAP

CHRIS Martin has serenaded hundreds of fans in a small inner-western Sydney park.

THE fans had spent most of Tuesday waiting in Newtown for the chance to appear as extras in a Coldplay music video.

The frontman stood on a podium, dressed in a singlet and carrying a one-man-band kit, flanked by his bandmates.The video involved them walking from Kelly's Bar on King Street, carrying their one-man-band kits as they marched through the streets, followed by the extras like modern-day Pied Pipers.They stopped in front of the Martin Luther King "I Have A Dream" mural, before ending up in a park beside the Black Star pastry cafe.The extras had responded to the tweet sent out by the band's manager, Phil Harvey, on Monday night asking for fans to turn up at the Courthouse Hotel in Newtown.They waited to hear Martin speak to them from the podium. The frontman, looking tanned and happy, thanked the fans and the paparazzi "for being nice"."This is going to be on YouTube in three hours," Martin said as everyone held their phones aloft."This is the strangest recording session we've ever done. We actually are recording this song," he said.He then sang a live, heartfelt version of the song to the crowd.After they had been serenaded, the crowd cheered. Most of them admitted they turned up for the shoot because they hadn't been able to get tickets to see the band's promotional gig in the Enmore Theatre on Thursday.In the initial tweet, Harvey said the first 250 people who turned up before 11.30am would appear in the video.By 11am, they had reached that number with many fans queuing up since 6am."I'm relieved we got the 250 we need," Harvey told AAP."The only thing that worries me is that I just hope not too many other people turn up because I don't want them to be disappointed".The shoot finished up at 3.30pm and every extra who turned up will be able to see their name in the video's credits.

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Most trusted also the most abused

New figures show assaults on Australia's paramedics are set to reach record levels in 2014. Source: AAP

THEY have retained their status as Australia's most trusted professionals.

BUT paramedics are still among the most attacked and abused workers, according to new figures that show assaults on NSW ambos are set to reach record levels in 2014.

Since January 1, there have been 81 physical and verbal assaults on NSW paramedics - many of them carried out by boozed-up patients who lashed out at the very people trying to help them.The figures for the first half of 2014 are already well on course to surpass the 133 assaults on NSW paramedics recorded in 2013. There were 89 assaults in 2012.It comes as paramedics were named Australia's most trusted professionals for the 10th year in a row in Reader's Digest annual trust index, published on Monday.Firefighters were second, followed by rescue volunteers, nurses and doctors.But trust for paramedics is clearly not translating into respect from all quarters of the community.Among the more appalling attacks on paramedics in recent months, a female ambo was punched to the ground and kicked by a man she was trying to treat in Sydney's CBD in February.And in March, four paramedics were attacked in 24 hours.The incidents included a 50-year-old man who punched a paramedic in the face near Ryde and a man who punched a paramedic in the stomach after trying to break into an ambulance at Campbelltown.Two paramedics were threatened by a 33-year-old man who tried to punch them as they treated him at a Dee Why home.The Ambulance Service of NSW welcomed the retention of its `must trusted' status but said the attacks must stop."Even though the community trusts paramedics more than any other group of people, paramedics themselves can unfortunately be assaulted physically or verbally while trying to perform their job," it said.

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French train workers clash with police

FRENCH riot police have fired tear gas at striking train workers, who hurled bottles and blocked traffic in anger over a bill to reform the state-run railway system.

A WEEK-LONG strike by French rail workers is heating up as the draft law goes to the lower house of parliament for debate on Tuesday.

Several hundred workers staged a protest near the National Assembly on Paris' Left Bank, waving red union flags. The bill would pave the way to opening up the railways to competition, and opponents fear it will lead to job losses and safety problems.The protesters blocked cars and tried to approach the parliament building, firing flares and throwing bottles. Officers responded with tear gas and wrestled a few protesters to the ground.

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WA basketballer socks it to sarcoma

ADAM Deans thought he was a bit sore from playing football.

BUT when the fit 16-year-old broke his femur simply walking down the stairs in 2005, doctors biopsied his leg to discover the bone had been weakened by osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

Less than a month later, Deans' left leg was amputated above the knee and he began eight months of chemotherapy."I didn't know what it was ... to be honest it didn't really bother me - the word I was fixated on was cancer," he said."I was so tall I couldn't sit in any of the beds at a children's hospital, so I was taken to an adult hospital."Like Deans, many diagnosed with the disease have never heard of sarcoma even though 15 per cent of paediatric cancers in Australia are sarcomas as well as 10 per cent among youths aged 15 to 25.Despite this, less than one per cent of the cancer research dollar is spent on sarcoma research.Fortunately, nine years on and Deans still calls himself not only a cancer survivor, but a sporting champion selected to represent Australia in South Korea at the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation World Championships.Not everybody diagnosed with the disease is as lucky as Deans: Abbie Basson, who started up Perth-based organisation Sock it to Sarcoma, lost her three-year battle with Ewing's Sarcoma in 2011.But her work has been carried on by her family, with the organisation holding several public events as part of the inaugural West Australia Sarcoma Awareness Week from June 16 to 21.Abbie's mother Mandy urged people, especially youths, not to dismiss symptoms like feeling tired or pain as a sport injury, but to ask their GP to refer them to a primary bone and soft tissue tumour specialist."Don't get it misdiagnosed, put it off as a sport strain or back pain," she said."As a result, the cancer gets the opportunity to spread."

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Ambulance Vic named in ATSB death report

A MAN who died after being crushed by a crane on a cargo ship lay injured while an ambulance trying to reach him was locked out of the port.

AMBULANCE Victoria had neglected to train officers in how to open gates at Portland - a massive multi-berth facility about 300km west of Melbourne - says a report into the incident.

A crew member telephoned for help for the ship's injured but conscious Chinese assistant electrician but the emergency operator at first could not find the port on a mapping system and so dispatched an ambulance to the general location.Paramedics faced a locked and unmanned gate, unaware that the ambulance service had been provided with swipe cards, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau reported on Monday.They drove to a second gate seeking access and then back to the original entry point where they were lucky to meet a staff member.Despite the hold-up, paramedics reached the man 13 minutes after they were called.Forty-nine minutes later, after a delay arranging to open the gates to leave, the ambulance arrived at Portland Hospital.Shortly afterwards the man died.The ATSB concluded the electrician had been working without proper approvals near an operating crane on the deck of the Singapore-based Toucan Arrow when he was crushed on October 7, 2013.A warning light in the area was inoperative and, because of background noise, he is unlikely to have heard the alarm warning of the crane's approach.Although no one witnessed the incident, a torn strip of his clothing was found on a hatch lid against which he is believed to have been pinned as the remote-controlled crane moved along the deck.The ATSB found the ship's master failed to alert port authorities and therefore an emergency response, including manning of port access gates, did not occur.The ambulance service had not taken up an offer by the port authority to take paramedics on a familiarisation tour of the port.In response, Ambulance Victoria said it was impractical to hold access cards for the variety of sites that may call on its services.Portland-based paramedics have since undergone retraining.

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NSW budget to return to surplus sooner

The Baird government is set to deliver a budget surplus one year earlier than previously predicted. Source: AAP

JUST two months into the job, Treasurer Andrew Constance is set to announce NSW's finances are heading toward surplus earlier than previously expected.

IT is understood Tuesday's budget, which is the last to be delivered by the Baird government before next year's March election, will predict a surplus by 2015/16.

That's one year earlier than forecast by former treasurer and now premier Mike Baird six months ago.Mr Constance is expected to deliver the good news in his first budget on Tuesday, which will mark the start of the Baird government's pitch to voters before next year's March election."We have a state economy that is going gangbusters, driven by our focus on housing and jobs," he told reporters in Sydney on Monday.Borrowing a phrase synonymous with US politics, Mr Constance said his "Super Tuesday" budget would focus on infrastructure, with more than $60 billion going toward roads, rail and hospitals over four years.But Opposition Leader John Robertson dismissed the announcement, saying NSW governments had always spent about $60 billion on infrastructure each budget.Meanwhile, the treasurer acknowledged the state's finances had been affected by cuts in federal funding and said there would be "challenges" in health beyond the forward estimates.It is understood an Abbott government decision to deliver a $703 million payment for the Pacific Highway upgrade this financial year is set to affect the 2014/15 bottom line, leaving it further in deficit.Mr Robertson expects the budget to be "built on cuts", despite "record revenue" from stamp duty and speed cameras."Mike Baird as treasurer has shown that when it comes to cutting, he can cut with the best of them with the deep cuts that we've seen for the last three years," Mr Robertson said.The treasurer is expected to spruik the government's plan to raise $20 billion from the sale of NSW's electricity assets in his budget speech.

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Lib pair making mischief in the Senate

Senator Cory Bernardi has refused to vote with the government in protest against the deficit levy. Source: AAP

REBEL Liberals Ian Macdonald and Cory Bernardi are unbending in their plans to frustrate some of their government's key budget measures.

SENATOR Macdonald has signalled he will side with the Greens when the upper house votes on a temporary tax levy the government wants to impose on high-income earners from July.

Senator Bernardi doesn't plan to go that far, preferring to abstain from the vote because the measure will pass the Senate with Labor's support.But neither senator was prepared to back a move by the Greens on Monday to make permanent the measure that increases for three years the top tax rate from 45 per cent to 47 per cent for income earned over $180,000.Senator Macdonald, who has threatened to cross the floor of parliament, argues the levy should apply to corporations as well as individuals."I don't think it goes far enough," he told parliament.Senator Bernardi's opposition to the levy comes from his belief that Australians are paying too much income tax now.Both senators are also likely to oppose the government's paid parental leave scheme, a move that threatens not only to embarrass its prime backer Prime Minister Tony Abbott but scuttle the scheme as well."My crossing the floor might be relevant on some occasion over the next year or so," Senator Macdonald warned.Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was keen to play up the pair's stance as a sign of disarray within government ranks.But he also took a pot-shot at the Liberal senators over their decision to stand up for the top one per cent of income earners."I just wish they would stand up for low-paid people with the same vigour," he said.Australian Greens leader Christine Milne isn't impressed with Labor's decision to support the levy."If ever there was a con job on the Australian people this is it," she said, adding her party couldn't support a temporary levy while the budget made an ideological attack on the welfare system.The government for its part is trying to play down any signs of an internal revolt, saying the burden of repairing the budget would have fallen on those receiving welfare payments if it hadn't imposed a levy on the rich."Of course that is not what we think would be right," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told parliament.

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Get out of Iraq now, warns Bishop

Australia ready to help with humanitarian crisis in Iraq, but no troops envisaged says Julie Bishop. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIANS have been told to leave Iraq immediately by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who has described the escalating crisis as deeply disturbing.

INSURGENTS from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have taken a swathe of mostly Sunni Arab territory in northern Iraq in an offensive that has brought fighting to within 80km of Baghdad.

The worsening crisis prompted Ms Bishop to urge Australians to leave "immediately".

"The airport in Baghdad is still open. Commercial flights are still operating out of Baghdad," she told the Ten Network. 

"But if Australians must stay in Iraq, they must ensure that their personal circumstances and their security is absolutely safe." 

The Australian embassy in Baghdad would be "very constrained" in the support it could provide, she said. 

On Saturday US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered an aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers possible military options, after he ruled out sending troops into Iraq. 

Speaking to reporters in Houston, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would wait to see how the US responds to the situation before developing an Australian response. 

Ms Bishop said the US would take the lead when it came to any military action. 

"I didn't envisage a circumstance where we would be sending in troops," she said. 

"But we certainly stand ready to support the humanitarian crisis should a request be made." 

She defended the 2003 military intervention in the country, which she supported as a member of the Howard Government. 

"I thought Saddam Hussein was one of the worst dictators on the planet at that time. His removal was a good thing," she said. 

Greens leader Christine Milne said following the US into Iraq was not going to "fix" the violence in the country. 

"We do not want to follow the United States blindly as John Howard did (in 2003)," Senator Milne told ABC Television. 

"Clearly it didn't work last time in Iraq and it won't work this time." 

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Firies cancer law not ruled out: Vic govt

Volunteer firefighters rally in Melbourne for access to compensation for cancer contracted at work. Source: AAP

THE Victorian government says it hasn't ruled out changing the way firefighters access cancer compensation as hundreds rallied in Melbourne to try to break down barriers to claims.

THE government says it simplified cancer claims for firefighters and encouraged both career and volunteer firefighters to lodge a claim if they believe they had contracted cancer as a result of their duties.

"The Victorian government is not ruling out presumptive legislation and will continue to consider new medical and scientific evidence as it becomes available," a government spokesperson said.Volunteer Fire Brigades president Bill Watson said firefighters wanted a law that lists the 12 typical "firefighter" cancers and presumes them to be work-related, providing the firefighter has enough years of service behind him or her and relevant risk exposure.Mr Watson said there is plenty of evidence firefighters are more likely to suffer certain cancers, but it can be difficult to prove which fire or chemical incident caused their illness."It's not like a broken bone where you know exactly when and where it happened," Mr Watson said."The burning car or house fire you attended today may cause a cancer that doesn't show up for decades, which makes it nearly impossible to prove it was work related."The federal government introduced presumptive legislation in 2011.Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia also have laws that recognise the link between firefighting and cancer.Mr Watson said any legislation would have to include eligibility guidelines."We're not after a free ride," he said."We just want to make sure they're looked after if they get sick."The Victorian government has been under pressure to make changes to the way compensation is accessed after a 2012 report found firefighters who trained at the CFA Fiskville site had been exposed to dangerous chemicals going as far back as the 1970s.Last year they introduced a review panel to assist both volunteer and career firefighters seeking compensation for cancer caused by their work.Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said Labor would introduce the legislation if elected in November."I have committed to the introduction of presumptive rights," Mr Andrews said.

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Afghan bomb kills 11 amid vote fraud claim

Afghans have braved threats of violence and searing heat to vote in the presidential elections. Source: AAP

A ROADSIDE bomb killed 11 people including five election workers in northern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday, as a prolonged vote count began after the presidential run-off election.

ELECTION officials were sifting through fraud complaints from both candidates, and analysts said the lengthy count could be the trickiest phase in the country's first democratic transfer of power.

More than 50 people were killed on polling day Saturday by militant attacks, including the 11 whose bus was hit by a roadside bomb in Samangan province and five members of one family who died when a Taliban rocket hit a house near a polling station.Eleven voters in the western province of Herat had their fingers - which were dipped in ink to register their ballot - cut off by insurgents, Deputy Interior Minister Ayoub Salangi said.But despite the Taliban attacks, Saturday's election drew a high turnout of about seven million voters in a contest between former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.The White House praised voters' courage and called the elections "a significant step forward on Afghanistan's democratic path".The US, along with the UN, also urged the two candidates not to trade unproven fraud allegations, but both Abdullah and Ghani raised the issue immediately after polls closed."It is win or lose now," said Kate Clark, director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network."The voting is only one phase of the election, and there is still a lot that could change. Being a good loser doesn't gain you much here."If it is close and fraud looks to have been a lot, and either candidate wants to really make a fuss, then we could be in for months of wrangling."The 2009 election, when outgoing President Hamid Karzai retained power, was marred by massive fraud that shook the US-led international effort to develop Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.A credible election and smooth handover of power would be a major achievement for Afghanistan's backers after 13 years of hugely costly military and civilian assistance.All foreign combat troops are due to withdraw by the end of this year."Allegations of fraud need to be addressed," US ambassador James Cunningham said after polls closed on Saturday."But the candidates and their supporters should refrain from premature judgments and from criticism that is not supported with clear evidence."The preliminary result is due on July 2, before the complaints period begins, and the final result is scheduled for July 22."We have urged the candidates to act as statesmen, future presidents, rather than people simply in a competition with each other," said Nicholas Haysom, the deputy chief of the UN mission.Reflecting international fears of a contested result, he said candidates must "exercise patience" as the count got underway.The Electoral Complaints Commission said it had registered about 275 complaints by Sunday morning."There were violation cases where the supporters of the presidential candidates forced voters to vote for a certain candidate," said spokesman Mohammad Nader Mohsini."Supporters were also offering money for voters to vote for a certain candidate."He said allegations had also been raised of interference by election officials and the security forces.

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Nicole Kidman for top Shanghai honour

Nicole Kidman is to be honoured at the Shanghai International Film Festival in China. Source: AAP

NICOLE Kidman is to be honoured with an outstanding contribution award at the Shanghai International Film Festival in China.

HUGH Grant and John Woo will present the Australian actress with her latest accolade at the opening ceremony on Saturday, while artist Qin Yi will honour actor and director Jiang Wen with the Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Film Award.

Kidman will be hoping the festival will be a better experience than her visit to Cannes last month, when her new film Grace of Monaco was savaged by critics.Kirsten Dunst, John Cusack, Hayden Christensen, Jackie Chan, Tony Leung, Li Bingbing and Korean superstar Rain are expected to attend the opening gala, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The film festival will open with a restored version of 1964 movie Two Stage Sisters and close with Transformers: Age of Extinction.A jury led by actress Gong Li will decide the winner of the Golden Goblet from the 15 films in competition.

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