Hunger Games still on top of box office

THE Hunger Games: Catching Fire is still sparking the interest of Aussie punters, remaining at the top of the Australian box office for the third week running.

Over the weekend, the sequel, which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Aussie Liam Hemsworth, raked in another $3.501 million, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, bringing its total since its release to $28.311 million.

In second place was another sequel, the new animation Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, while two more films making their debut - Vince Vaughn's comedy Delivery Man and the science fiction Ender's Game - came in third and fourth.

They pushed Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa down from No. 2 to the No. 5 spot. It had a domino effect on Chris Hemsworth's Thor: The Dark World, biopic One Chance, the Carrie remake and Tom Hanks' Captain Phillips, which all fell three places.

Clinging onto the final rung is Sandra Bullock's sci-fi survivalist thriller Gravity, which leapfrogged Enough Said to round out the Top Ten.

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Turks arrested for Nazi salutes at camp

TWO Turkish students who posed in front of the former concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau while performing Nazi salutes are facing charges of propagating fascism, the Polish news agency PAP reported.

The two 22-year-olds posed in front of the sign - famous the world over for its inscription "Arbeit macht frei (Work makes you free)" - on Sunday, reported PAP.

They were both arrested and face charges of propagation of fascism.

The use of Nazi symbols is punishable under Polish law.

The two men study history in Hungary, according to the report.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi concentration camp the Germans built in Poland during World War II.

The majority of the at least 1.3 million inmates murdered in Auschwitz were Jewish.

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Grandfather dies in NSW farming accident

A MAN has died in southern NSW after being pinned under a grain trailer in front of his grandson.

NSW Ambulance were called to a farm at Benerembah, near Griffith, about 3:30pm (AEDT) on Monday.

A 21-year-old man met paramedics and led them to where his 87-year-old grandfather was pinned under a grain trailer.

Police have been told the man was trying to steady the trailer after it was uncoupled from a tractor, when he became trapped underneath it.

Police said the younger man tried unsuccessfully to move the trailer off his grandfather with a forklift.

The man alerted a neighbour who called emergency services.

State Emergency Service volunteers and police arrived after paramedics and say it was clear the man could not be revived.

A crime scene has been established and Work Cover have been notified.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

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US approves new hepatitis C drug

The FDA has approved a new medication for Hepatitis C but treatment looks likely to cost $US84,000. Source: AAP

HEALTH officials in the United States have approved a highly anticipated hepatitis C drug that is expected to offer a faster, more palatable cure to millions of people infected with the liver-destroying virus.

The Food and Drug Administration says it has approved the medication Sovaldi from Gilead Sciences Inc in combination with older drugs to treat the main forms of hepatitis C that affect US patients.

Current treatments for hepatitis C can take up to a year of therapy and involve weekly injections of a drug that causes flu-like side effects, an approach only cures about three out of four patients.

Sovaldi is a daily pill that in clinical trials cured roughly 90 percent of patients in just 12 weeks, when combined with the older drug cocktail.

Between 3 million and 4 million Americans are estimated to carry the blood-borne virus, though most do not even know they are infected. Others have tested positive but are waiting for more effective treatments to become available. Hepatitis C symptoms may not appear until two or three decades after infection, though the virus can cause liver failure, cirrhosis and cancer if left untreated.

Dr Donald Jensen of the University of Chicago said he's optimistic that new drugs like Sovaldi will increase treatment of the disease, which is blamed for 15,000 US deaths per year.

"I'm hoping that these new, less toxic therapies will drive more people to get tested and more primary care physicians to test their patients, knowing that the therapy is going to be more effective and easier," said Jensen, who directs the university's center for liver diseases.

Gilead said it will price the drug at $US84,000 ($A92,282.34) for one 12-week supply. Patients with a less common subtype of the disease may need to take the drug for 24 weeks, raising the cost to $168,000 for one course of treatment. Drugs already on the market run between $25,000 and $50,000 for a course of treatment.

The approval comes as the US government urges all baby boomers to get tested for the disease. People born between 1945 and 1965 are five times more likely than other age groups to have hepatitis C, with many having contracted the virus by sharing needles or having sex with an infected person in their youth.

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Vic minister slams hospital delay claim

OPPOSITION claims that sick Victorian kids are being forced to wait due to delays in building a children's hospital are wrong and hypocrisy in the extreme, the health minister says.

Baulderstone Pty Ltd will build the 230-bed Monash Children's Hospital, with construction to begin mid-next year, it was announced on Sunday.

But opposition health spokesman Gavin Jennings says the hospital should be being finished now, not being started, with the government promising to deliver it in its first term.

"Families who have been waiting for better care for their children, continue to wait," he told reporters.

"Families are waiting longer than they should have."

Health Minister David Davis said the government had promised to start building the hospital in its first term.

He said Labor's delay claims were wrong and "hypocrisy in the extreme" because they failed to build the hospital in 11 years in government.

"(Now Opposition Leader) Daniel Andrews was parliamentary secretary for health first and health minister later and he allocated not one cent to build the Monash Children's Hospital," Mr Davis told AAP.

He said the need for a dedicated children's hospital in Melbourne's southeast was first identified a decade ago.

"This is an important hospital for Melbourne's southeast, a hospital that we look forward to seeing in operation," Mr Davis said.

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Free transport urged for fire recovery

The NSW Opposition wants free weekend transport to and from the Blue Mountains to boost business. Source: AAP

THE NSW government should provide free bus and train rides to and from the Blue Mountains these holidays to help businesses recover from the October bushfires, the state opposition says.

The government needs to encourage visitors back with the message that the Blue Mountains is open for business, Opposition Leader John Robertson says.

Analysis by Blue Mountains Lithgow & Oberon Tourism and Blue Mountains Economic Enterprise estimates 200 jobs and more than $47 million in tourism revenue have been lost in the six weeks following the bushfires.

Domestic day trips alone are estimated to be down by more than 144,000.

Mr Robertson says there are dozens of bus and train services to the Blue Mountains every weekend.

"These public transport services should be free and promoted across the Sydney Trains network to encourage families and tourists to plan a trip to the mountains."

Opposition transport spokeswoman Penny Sharpe says she's written to Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian asking that Labor's proposal be implemented immediately, effective until the Australia Day long weekend.

"For a family of two adults and two children it would cost $34.80 on a Saturday to travel from Central to Springwood by train ... that's $34 better spent in a Blue Mountains small business."

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill says many visitors had been scared away by the bushfires.

"We have hundreds of thousands of hectares of world heritage listed National Park with breathtaking scenery, pristine waterways and amazing walking tracks," he said.

"We welcome any proposal that encourages visitors and their wallets to our region."

Ms Berejiklian said in a statement that the NSW government had announced funding for a campaign to encourage tourists to visit the Blue Mountains and continued to work with the community to help those impacted.

"An auction of Sydney Trains lost property items held on Saturday raised thousands of dollars that will be donated to victims of the Blue Mountains bushfire," she said.

The minister also said the government had announced residents would not be charged for water used to defend their homes during the bushfires.

Fees to replace documents such as birth certificates and driver licences had also been waived along with fees for taking bushfire waste to the tip, Ms Berejiklian said.

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Qld 30-year vision sets the bar high

Expanding children's literacy and numeracy levels is a primary target in a bold plan for Queensland. Source: AAP

AN ambitious 30-year plan for Queensland aims to have half of the state's population living outside the southeast and to narrow the gap between the wealthy and poor.

Ensuring all Queensland children have basic literacy and numeracy when they finish primary school is another key target in The Queensland Plan, released for review on Sunday.

Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection Andrew Powell says the bar has been set high.

"The working draft is based on a compilation of what Queenslanders have told us they want in 30 years' time," he said in a statement.

"We don't expect everyone will agree with these preliminary targets, but we now have a great opportunity as a community to realise the future we want."

Mr Powell is urging all Queenslanders to have a look at the draft to ensure the 30-year vision reflects the aspirations of the Sunshine State.

"Test us. These targets are bold, they are different and some have never been measured in Australia before," he said.

Ensuring Queenslanders have the lowest incidence of preventable diseases in Australia and increasing the life expectancy of the state's indigenous peoples are also among the 16 primary targets outlined in the draft plan.

The final Queensland Plan is expected to be released by mid-2014.

The working draft is online and will be available for review until March 7 2014.

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Drug arrests, seizures at Vic music fest

MORE than 100 people have been arrested for drug offences at a Melbourne music festival.

Police seized drugs including ecstasy, amphetamine, cocaine, GHB and MDMA during a sniffer dog operation at the Stereosonic festival at Melbourne Showgrounds over the weekend.

They arrested 139 people, with the majority receiving drug diversions or cautions.

Ten people were charged.

Police Senior Sergeant Mark Pilkington said it was disappointing that so many people were risking their lives by taking illicit substances.

"Believe it or not, you are taking a serious risk with your health and life every time you take an illicit substance," he said.

"We will continue to work closely with event organisers to try and limit these substances at events."

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First day of gay marriage in ACT

A WA Labor MP has married his male partner as ACT marriage laws came into effect at midnight. Source: AAP

THE bride wore white and so did her wife.

Corinna Peck and Stacey Cowen were among some 15 couples to tie the knot in Canberra on Saturday as Australia's first same-sex marriage law came into play.

But while the outfits were bright and newlywed smiles beamed across the nation's capital, a dark cloud was hanging over the future validity of the same-sex unions.

On Thursday the High Court will rule if the ACT's Marriage Equality Act, passed in October, is at odds with Commonwealth law and therefore invalid.

The threat didn't dampen the enthusiasm of groom Ivan Hinton who vowed to make partner Chris Teoh his "lawful wedded husband".

"There should never be any rule in this country that disrespects the commitment that two people like us wish to express to one another," Mr Hinton told reporters after his wedding.

Ceremonies kicked off at 12.01am (AEDT) with two couples rushing to become Australia's first legally-recognised "husbands".

Australian Marriage Equality director Rodney Croome attended Mr Hinton's marriage and afterwards highlighted the historic nature of Saturday's events.

"In years to come people will look back and think 'what an historic moment that was,' but also, 'why did it take us so long to recognise the wonderful ordinariness of the love, (the) commitment of same-sex relationships?'," Mr Croome said.

The Australian Christian Lobby has criticised the ACT law, claiming it damages the institution of marriage.

"We hear about equal love all the time but we don't hear about what it means for children," Lobby spokesman Lyle Shelton told Sky News.

"Same-sex marriage means same-sex parenting, that means necessarily taking a child from its biological mother or father and giving it to someone else."

ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher defended the law and sent a message to critics: "the world will go on".

"This doesn't effect those people who don't agree with it. It doesn't change their life, it doesn't change their relationships. This is all about making sure everyone is treated equally before the law," she said.

Ms Gallagher insisted that the community response, including from religious groups, had been overwhelmingly supportive.

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young congratulated the newlywed couples and thanked them for being part of an important first step to change.

"This is how laws change, it is how communities evolve, it is how social change happens, when individuals put themselves forward," she said.

"I think it's time that politics put aside the views of others and allowed couples right across this country to have their love celebrated and accepted and recognised."

The ACT government said 47 couple have registered an intent to marry under the new law.

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Abbott, Shorten to attend Mandela service

PM Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will attend a memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will present a united Australian front to honour and farewell Nelson Mandela.

The pair will this week fly to Johannesburg to join world leaders past and present, mourning the former South African president who died at his home on Thursday (local time) aged 95.

A huge memorial service is planned for the nation's first black leader on Tuesday, with US President Barack Obama already confirming his attendance.

On Saturday Mr Shorten's office said the Labor leader had accepted an invitation from Mr Abbott to accompany the prime minister to South Africa. Both men will miss most of the final 2013 parliamentary sitting week.

It is unknown how long the men will be out of Australia.

"There is a long bipartisan history of Australian support for South Africa and the campaign to abolish apartheid," Mr Abbott said, announcing his intention to attend the service.

After facing criticism for not lowering flags at the news of Mr Mandela's death, Mr Abbott said Australian flags will be set at half mast on the day of the official memorial.

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