Arson attack is personal, says Mundine

Anthony Mundine says a suspected arson attack on his Sydney cafe has given him "fire in the belly". Source: AAP

ANTHONY Mundine has been fired up by a suspected arson attack on his Sydney cafe.

The "personal" attack has given the controversial boxer "fire in the belly" for his upcoming fight against Shane Mosley, he told the Nine Network on Thursday.

Mundine lost documents and about $1,000 of memorabilia in a suspicious fire at his Boxa Bar cafe at Hurstville, in Sydney's southwest.

Gloves and gowns from his many fights that used to hang on the cafe's walls were destroyed in the blaze that broke out in the early hours of Thursday.

"It looks to be personal, everyone knows this in my joint," Mundine told the Nine Network.

"To come and see my place blown up pretty much is shocking man."

Investigators gathered evidence and will examine CCTV as they search for the three suspected arsonists who caused more than $500,000 damage.

They are also looking for a white van seen speeding away from the Boxa Bar a minute before the fire broke out.

Mundine is currently preparing for his fight with Shane Mosley in Sydney on November 27.

The NRL player turned boxer said he wasn't "pointing the finger" but told Triple M radio that "some people" had made statements about sabotaging the event.

"I'd be naive not to be paranoid, I suppose," he told Triple M radio.

But, Mundine added, "only the all powerful, the all knowing knows that and that's God."

18.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Airbus parent reports higher Q3 profit

AIRBUS parent company EADS says strong demand for its commercial aircraft has helped its third-quarter profits increase by a hefty 45 per cent.

But the European jet-maker warned on Thursday that its free cash flow, a measure of cash generated by a business, would be negative 1.5 billion euros ($A2.18 billion) this year because of its investment program into lifting production and development of programs such as the A350 long-range wide body, which is supposed to enter service in the second half of next year.

Previously, the company had said its free cash flow would break even this year, compared with positive 1.5 billion euros last year.

EADS said in a statement net profit for the July-September quarter rose to 436 million euros, up from 301 million euros a year earlier.

EADS, which next year is adopting the "Airbus" name for its overall corporate identity, said its free cash flow is being squeezed as some of its government military customers cut spending amid tightened budgets, as well as unexpected additional costs tied to the A350 and other programs.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, EADS chief financial officer Harold Wilhelm said "there's still a long way to go" on the A350 with some higher costs, but that the program remains on track for entry into service late next year.

Wilhelm also said the free cash flow situation will improve before the end of this year.

EADS still expects its operating profit before one-offs, its preferred earnings gauge, to reach 3.5 billion euros this year, up from 3 billion euros in 2012.

18.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Diabetes is rising out of control: report

DIABETES and obesity are rising out of control in Australia and the rest of the world, new data suggests.

The global burden will surge from 382 million people to 592 million people by 2035, according to an International Diabetes Federation atlas released on Thursday.

Australia is in line with the world diabetes average of one in 10 people, but the numbers are much higher among indigenous people.

"It just keep growing," says Associate Professor Jonathan Shaw of Australia's Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.

"In Australia we are starting to see much younger people develop type 2 diabetes, particularly in the indigenous community and among immigrants of Indian and Chinese origin," Prof Shaw said.

"They will still be relatively young when they start suffering complications like kidney failure, blindness and stroke.

"It is going to become a greater burden for them and for society."

The Western Pacific, which includes Australia, China and Japan, has 138 million people with diabetes, the highest number of people with the disease in the world, according to the atlas released to mark World Diabetes Day.

China with 98 million, India with 65 million and the US with 24 million have the highest numbers of people with the disease.

"It is an emergency in slow motion," says Peter Soelberg, the managing director of Novo Nordisk Australasia, a sponsor of World Diabetes Day.

"This day should act as a wake-up call."

People need to eat fewer kilojoules and stay physically active, Prof Shaw says.

"We need to look at regulation in the same way as we have regulations for alcohol and tobacco."

Work environments that encourage people to stand up regularly are also considered essential.

18.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Govt pushes on with pink batts inquiry

The coalition is going ahead with plans for a royal commission into Labor's home insulation program. Source: AAP

THE coalition is pressing ahead with its plan for a royal commission into Labor's home insulation program.

Attorney-General George Brandis said cabinet had given the go-ahead for a detailed examination of the scheme, which cost four lives and caused extensive damage to property.

"This royal commission will give the families of the four young men - Matthew Fuller, Rueben Barnes, Mitchell Sweeney and Marcus Wilson - who died while installing insulation the answers they have been seeking," he said in a statement.

Senator Brandis said the government would soon recommend terms of reference to the Governor-General and the appointment of an eminent lawyer as royal commissioner.

Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd launched the $2.8 billion "pink batts" scheme in 2008 to inject cash into the economy during the global financial crisis and to achieve an environmental benefit.

It ended in 2010 in the wake of the four deaths and a succession of house fires. An inquest blamed the deaths of three of the workers on the rushed rollout.

The coalition promised a full inquiry during the election.

Senator Brandis said it would focus on the process of decisions to establish and implement the scheme, including the identification and management of risks and assessment.

It will also examine what advice, warnings or recommendations were given to or sought by the government.

The inquiry will assess whether any changes should be made to laws, practices, processes, procedures and systems.

Senator Brandis said the commission would assess all relevant matters from inception of the policy to its finalisation, including findings of coronial inquests and other inquiries.

He said the government consulted the families in developing the proposed terms of reference.

The commission will report by June 30, 2014.

A spokesman for Senator Brandis would not comment on whether Mr Rudd or former Labor environment minister Peter Garrett would be called to give evidence.

18.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pell welcomes critical report

Australia's most senior Catholic has welcomed a report that questions his response to child abuse. Source: AAP

THE Catholic Church's "institutional failure" to respond appropriately to child abuse extends to its leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, a parliamentary inquiry reports.

But Cardinal Pell says he welcomes the Victorian inquiry's report and supports many of its recommendations.

The parliamentary inquiry into child abuse took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had "minimalised and trivialised" the issue.

In a swipe at Cardinal Pell's evidence, its report said that following repeated questioning he agreed some bishops and religious superiors had covered up the issue.

"That is quite different from the whole church ... the whole church is not guilty of that," he told the inquiry.

Cardinal Pell denied claims the church had trivialised child sex abuse.

"By the standards of common decency and by today's standards, church authorities were not only slow to deal with the abuse, but sometimes did not deal with it in any appropriate way at all. This is indefensible," Cardinal Pell said.

The committee also challenged Cardinal Pell over a speech he gave in Ireland in 2011 in which he said a Supreme Court judge had advised him the sex abuse scandal "would bleed us to death" if not cleaned up.

Its report said Cardinal Pell - the archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001 - seemed to indicate the church's central aim was to safeguard its own interests.

The committee also rejected evidence of other church leaders that awareness of sexual abuse was "slow to percolate through society and the church".

"Rather than being instrumental in exposing the issue and the extent of the problem, the Catholic Church in Victoria minimalised and trivialised the problem, contributed to abuse not being disclosed and ensured the community remained uninformed," the report said.

Cardinal Pell said he supported recommendations for the creation of a government-established independent, alternative avenue for justice for victims of child abuse.

He said a recommendation for the Catholic Church to become incorporated, and therefore capable of being sued, was being examined.

19.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon survivors desperate for food, aid

People in typhoon-devastated areas in the Philippines are desperate for food, water and medicines. Source: AAP

THOUSANDS of people jostled and begged for seats on scarce flights out of a Philippine city demolished by a super typhoon, as anger at the slow pace of aid reaching the disaster zone turned deadly.

News emerged that eight people were crushed to death on Tuesday when a huge crowd of survivors from Haiyan rushed a government rice store in Alangalang town, 17 kilometres from the devastated city of Tacloban.

"One wall of our warehouses collapsed and eight people were crushed and killed instantly" in Tuesday's incident, said Rex Estoperez, spokesman for the National Food Authority.

Five days after Haiyan - one of the strongest storms ever - ripped apart entire coastal communities, the situation in Tacloban was becoming ever more dire with essential supplies low and increasingly desperate survivors clamouring to leave.

"Everyone is panicking," Captain Emily Chang, a navy doctor, told AFP.

"They say there is no food, no water. They want to get of here," she added, saying doctors at the airport had run out of medicine, including antibiotics.

"We are examining everyone but there's little we can do until more medical supplies arrive."

The United Nations estimates 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban, the provincial capital of Leyte province where five-metre waves flattened nearly everything in their path as they swept hundreds of metres across the low-lying land.

However, Philippine President Benigno Aquino said late on Tuesday he believed that toll was "too much", adding that 2500 "is the figure we're working on", despite the rapidly-climbing toll and the bodies still littering the streets of Tacloban.

Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras admitted authorities had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of deaths.

"The reason the body recovery stopped is because we ran out of body bags," he said. "But we now have 4000 bags. I am not saying the casualties are 4000. We are making sure there is an oversupply."

At Tacloban airport, AFP journalists witnessed exhausted and famished survivors pushing and shoving each other to get on one of the few flights out of the city.

"We have been here for three days and we still cannot get to fly out," said a frail Angeline Conchas, who was waiting for space on a plane with her seven-year-old daughter Rogiel Ann.

Her family were trapped on the second floor of their building as flood waters rose around them.

"We made it out, but now we may die from hunger."

The UN estimates more than 11.3 million people have been affected with 673,000 made homeless, since Haiyan smashed into the nation's central islands on Friday.

Overwhelmed and under-resourced rescue workers have been unable to provide food, water, medicines, shelter and other relief supplies to many survivors, and desperation has been building across the disaster zones.

The international relief effort is building momentum with many countries pledging help. The United States and Britain are sending warships carrying thousands of sailors to the Philippines, and US amphibious craft were also being deployed.

All were expected to arrive over the next few days. But for a shattered population already in dire straits, any delay is too long.

"People are desperate because they have nothing in Tacloban," Marco Boasso of the International Organisation for Migration said.

Hundreds of soldiers and police were patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints in Tacloban on Wednesday to try to prevent pillaging and the government said roads were now passable throughout the area, raising hope that relief might reach those in need.

"All the roads and bridges except two bridges in Region 8 are already passable," said National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council chief Eduardo del Rosario. Region 8 includes Leyte and Samar, the two hardest hit provinces.

"All our necessary relief goods, they can go to Tacloban (by road)."

President Aquino has declared a "state of national calamity", allowing the government to impose price controls and quickly release emergency funds.

Aquino's figure of up to 2500 deaths looked set to be easily surpassed. By early afternoon Wednesday the government said 2275 people were known to have died and 80 were still missing.

International aid groups said they feared what was known now was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Obviously the situation in Tacloban is appalling but we are also very concerned about outlying islands," Patrick Fuller, Red Cross spokesman in the Asia-Pacific, told AFP.

"There are a lot of them and I think it will be days, if not weeks, before we have a clear picture.

"No one is in a position to give an accurate figure. In Tacloban bodies are lying by the side of roads but those are just the ones that are visible. If you look around at the amount of wreckage caused you can see that people might have been taken out by a tidal surge."

"It's too early but (the death toll) will definitely be in the thousands.

19.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Packer pitches Crown resort in Sri Lanka

James Packer says Australian investment in Sri Lanka could boost its status as a global tourism hub. Source: AAP

BILLIONAIRE James Packer says Australian investment in Sri Lanka could boost its status as a global tourism hub.

Mr Packer was in Colombo on Wednesday to lobby the Sri Lankan government over his plans for a five-star resort and to address the Commonwealth Business Forum.

The forum is being held in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which Prime Minister Tony Abbott will attend on Friday.

Crown announced in mid-October it was in "detailed discussions" with the Sri Lankan government and potential partners regarding a $US450 million ($A481 million) five-star resort and casino.

The 450-room Crown Sri Lanka would be on Beira Lake in the Colombo resort district.

Mr Packer told the business forum that the previous CHOGM host, Perth, had built "targeted tourism infrastructure to lure global travellers".

"I am very happy to say, when I visit Colombo and Sri Lanka, I feel that same sense of momentum, optimism and positive energy," Mr Packer said.

Noting Sri Lanka's past decades of internal strife, Mr Packer said greater economic development would bring with it "human development" such as shelter, food and education.

Making his fifth visit to Colombo in two years, Mr Packer said the growing middle class in India and China were seeking luxury tourism.

Projects such as Crown Sri Lanka could turn the country "into a leading tourist mecca".

One recent tourism study found 80 per cent of Chinese travelling outside the country for the first time headed for a casino, Mr Packer said.

The Sri Lankan parliament and board of investment is considering whether to grant investment approvals and tax concessions for the project, which is subject to final agreement between joint venture parties.

The resort could employ up to 2500 Sri Lankans and provide hospitality training.

19.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Charles officially becomes a pensioner

Prince Charles, king in waiting for more than six decades, is set to celebrate his 65th birthday. Source: AAP

THE Prince of Wales is set to celebrate his 65th birthday - a milestone for the man who will one day be king.

Charles's birthday on Thursday falls on the eve of the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) he will host in Sri Lanka.

It will be one of his most significant duties to date as a future monarch as he will be deputising for the Queen on the world stage.

Charles has been heir to the throne since he was three and on Thursday will officially become a pensioner.

Like thousands of others he will be claiming his pension this year - but will be donating it to an unnamed charity which supports the elderly.

The prince is entitled to the state benefit because he paid National Insurance contributions while in the Navy in the 1970s and made voluntary contributions later.

This year, he has also experienced the joy of welcoming his first grandchild, Prince George, into world.

A king in waiting for more than 60 years, he has carried out countless royal engagements over the decades, undertaking 480 in Britain and 112 overseas in 2012 alone.

The prince is the oldest heir to the throne for almost 300 years and the longest serving heir to the throne.

Charles recently told the US magazine Time he wanted to make the most of his position.

"I've had this extraordinary feeling, for years and years, ever since I can remember really, of wanting to heal and make things better," he said.

"I feel more than anything else it's my duty to worry about everybody and their lives in this country, to try and find a way of improving things if I possibly can."

As well as being patron of more than 400 charities, he has set up The Prince's Charities, a group of not-for-profit organisations which raise over STG100 million ($A172.12 million) a year. He also founded The Prince's Trust youth charity.

The prince, who is known for his strong opinions, particularly on the environment, architecture and farming, has faced criticism in the past over his "black spider memos" to ministers - the name given to the handwritten letters he penned to government ministers expressing his views.

In July this year, the Attorney-General's decision to block public disclosure of letters Charles wrote to ministers in 2004 and 2005 was upheld by three High Court judges.

It was a defeat for the Guardian newspaper which said it had been fighting an eight-year battle to shed more light "on the way the heir to the throne seeks to influence government ministers even though he holds no elected position".

In the nineties, Charles faced turmoil in his private life, played out on a public stage when he split from Diana, Princess of Wales, and anguish when Diana - mother to sons William, now the Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry - died in a car crash.

Now nearly two decades later, life is more settled for the future king who has been married to Camilla for eight years.

She was once derided as the "other woman" in Charles and Diana's relationship, but has established herself as a senior member of the royal family, attending the state opening of parliament and travelling with the Queen in her Diamond Jubilee carriage procession.

To mark his 65th birthday the prince has guest-edited a special edition of Country Life, highlighting his fears for the farming industry.

Charles expressed concerns that farming ranked as one of the least desirable careers for young people and that the average age of a British farmer is 58, and questioned why farmers have to act as a "buffer for the retailer and consumer against all the economic uncertainties of producing food".

He added: "It cannot be right that a typical hill farmer earns just STG12,600, with some surviving on as little as STG8,000 a year, whilst the big retailers and their shareholders do so much better out of the deal, having taken none of the risk."

The edition features a full-page photograph of Camilla, which editor Mark Hedges said was Charles' decision.

The Country Life editor told Daybreak that when they were going through the pages of the magazine at the end, Charles suddenly said "my darling wife".

"It was just so touching," he said. "I really realised that they have a wonderful marriage."

The royal couple are coming to the end of their nine-day tour of India which has already taken them to the shores of the River Ganges in the north, New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

19.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bob Brown's treasures go to auction

Ex-Greens leader Bob Brown is auctioning items of personal memorabilia to fund his beloved movement. Source: AAP

THE Australian Greens former leader Bob Brown is auctioning items of personal memorabilia collected during his time in public life, to help fund his beloved movement.

A catalogue of 100 pieces including photography, watercolours, cartoons, wood carvings and jewellery will go under the hammer in Hobart on November 17, with proceeds going to environmental campaigns run by the Bob Brown Foundation and the Tasmanian Greens.

Among the line-up, a bottle of French champagne gifted to Mr Brown during the Franklin River campaign in 1980.

Also available is the August 2002 dedication document in which Mr Brown was sworn in to the Senate by then governor-general Peter Hollingsworth.

There's a Canadian carved hickory walking stick, Taiwanese fork and spoon set in enamel, and Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklace with a price guide of $1200.

A full list of items can be found at http://greenart.com.au

18.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Two prisoners escape from Vic jail

A MANHUNT has been launched for two prisoners who have escaped from a minimum-security Victorian jail.

Police believe that Stephen Standage and Patrick Honeysett left the grounds of Dhurringile Prison, near Murchison in Victoria's north, some time after 5pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

Police say Standage, 46, is 175cm tall with a medium build, black hair with grey flicks, brown eyes and of Aboriginal/Caucasian appearance. He has a moustache.

Honeysett, 38, is 175cm tall with a medium build, brown hair in a crew-cut style and is also of Aboriginal/Caucasian appearance. He has tattoos on his right upper arm and on his lower leg.

Investigators believe they may have discarded their prison garb and are now wearing street clothes.

Dhurringile Prison is a minimum security prison for low-risk offenders.

Police say the pair are in jail for burglary and handling stolen goods related charges and advise anyone who comes in contact with them to call triple zero.

18.59 | 0 komentar | Read More