US military aircraft hit in South Sudan

TWO US military aircraft responding to the outbreak of violence in South Sudan have been hit by incoming fire, wounding three US service members.

Two officials said the aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week.

One of the wounded service members was reported to be in a critical condition.

Officials said after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda.

From there, the service members flew on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment.

Both officials demanded anonymity to share information not yet made public. Both officials work in East Africa and are in a position to know the information.

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Attacks across Iraq leave 15 people dead

A STRING of attacks across Iraq has killed 15 people, including a senior military commander, a colonel and five soldiers who all died during a raid on an al-Qaeda hideout, officials said.

Police officials said army Major General Mohammed al-Karawi, the colonel and the five troops were killed on Saturday when they stormed the booby-trapped hideout in the area of Rutba, in Iraq's volatile Sunni western Anbar province.

Al-Karawi, who commanded the Iraqi army's 7th Division, was leading a search operation hunting for al-Qaeda fighters in the area. Four soldiers were wounded in the operation, the police said.

Also in western Iraq, gunmen in a speeding car opened fire at a police checkpoint in the city of Fallujah earlier on Saturday, killing four policemen.

In the north, near the city of Kirkuk, an army officer and a soldier were killed when two mortar shells struck a military camp, officials said.

And in the town of Latifiyah, 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, a mortar shell hit a group of Shi'ite pilgrims heading to the holy sites in the city of Karbala.

The pilgrims were commemorating Arbaeen, the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, a revered Shi'ite figure.

Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims make their way every year to Karbala for Arbaeen. Al-Qaeda fighters and other Sunni insurgents frequently target Shi'ites, whom they consider to be infidels. Iraqi security forces also often poorly protect Shi'ite marches and pilgrimages to holy sites.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.

Violence has spiked in Iraq since a deadly crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in a northern town in April. At least 367 people have died in attacks across the country so far this month, according to an Associated Press count.

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Cafe fire shuts UK theme park

A THEME park near London has been forced to close after a blaze in one of its cafes.

There are no reports of any injuries.

A Chessington spokesman said no staff, visitors or animals were injured.

"The theme park and zoo were closed at the time of this incident and, therefore, no guests were involved," the park said in a statement.

"All staff areas were immediately evacuated and all staff and animals are safe and well.

"The fire has been brought under control and the fire service remain on site and in charge of the incident."

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Saudi Arabia reports death from new virus

SAUDI Arabia says one more person has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 56 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the centre of the outbreak.

The Health Ministry said Saturday that a 73-year-old, chronically ill man had died in a Riyadh hospital.

He was among 136 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September last year.

The ministry also says three new cases have been detected, including two foreign women working in the kingdom's health care services and a Saudi man.

The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

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Astronauts begin urgent space repairs

ASTRONAUTS have stepped out on the first of a series of urgent repair spacewalks at the International Space Station.

The two Americans on the crew floated outside on Saturday morning.

They will disconnect an ammonia pump that contains a bad valve.

The breakdown has crippled the space station's critical cooling system.

The pump replacement is a huge undertaking, attempted only once before, in 2010.

NASA has ordered up three spacewalks to complete the job, with the next to begin on Monday.

Astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins will go back out again Christmas Day, if any work remains.

The six-man crew had to turn off all non-essential equipment inside the orbiting lab following the malfunction on December 11, when scientific research came to a near-halt.

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Swedish Christmas goat engulfed in flames

VANDALS in Sweden have burned down for the 27th time a giant straw goat meant to symbolise Christmas spirit.

The 13-metre high and 3.6-tonne heavy straw goat was engulfed in flames early on Saturday after unidentified assailants attacked it in the Swedish town of Gavle, 150km north of Stockholm.

The straw goat is a centuries-old Scandinavian yule symbol that preceded Santa Claus as the bringer of gifts.

Since 1966, when the tradition of erecting the giant straw goat in the town square was introduced, Vandals have burnt it down 27 times.

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Security scare at NSW parliament house

Police have rushed in and grabbed a man from a car after a stand-off outside NSW Parliament. Source: AAP

A DISGRUNTLED former taxi driver who sparked a two-hour stand-off outside NSW Parliament has been charged.

Abdula Ganiji has been charged with threatening sabotage and possessing an explosive or article to damage property.

He has also been charged with threatening to destroy or damage property, police said.

It comes several hours after Ganiji sparked a lockdown of Macquarie Street in Sydney's CBD when he drove his white Chrysler sedan onto the footpath outside parliament at about 11.40am (AEDT) on Friday.

A large part of the street was quickly cordoned off and MPs and staff in parliament house were warned to keep clear of the front of the building.

For over two hours the 58-year-old from the Wollongong area passed lists of demands from inside the car to plain-clothes police negotiators.

Hundreds of city workers gathered at the police cordon and parliament went into partial lockdown, before the siege ended dramatically just before 2pm (AEDT).

There were loud bangs and flashes as up to a dozen heavily armed tactical officers swarmed the vehicle, smashing the car's windows and firing a canister of gas inside before dragging Ganiji into custody.

Police later said he had made threats of self harm, was known to police and was a regular visitor at parliament.

After he was handcuffed and dragged off for medical checks, police officers and firefighters removed a device from the car before conducting tests on the vehicle.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told reporters the man had a container of flammable liquid, which AAP understands was petrol, which he was threatening to set alight.

Mr Murdoch praised the quick actions of police.

"When that man attempted to light a cigarette lighter, wind the windows of the car up with what we believe to be a container of flammable liquid in the vehicle, those officers put their lives on the line this afternoon and they resolved the situation in a peaceful manner," he said.

The man was receiving medical attention for minor cuts suffered in the struggle with police, Mr Murdoch said, but compared to the threats he was making those injuries were "very, very minor in the scheme of things".

"The mere fact we're in front of our state parliament, in the middle of Sydney in the middle of the day - certainly that posed a risk," Mr Murdoch said.

"(But) at no time was any member of the community at risk, no one in any building was at risk and importantly no members of parliament were at risk because of this incident.

"We were very comfortable at all times that we had the measure of the fellow."

Mr Murdoch could not confirm reports the man had sought a meeting with Premier Barry O'Farrell, who stayed inside parliament throughout.

"He was making certain demands of the police but we weren't in a position to meet those demands, nor were we ever in a position to entertain them," he said.

"Our whole tactic was to contain and negotiate with the man.

Ganiji last year staged a hunger strike for several days outside parliament about a $200 fine he received 15 years ago.

He had called on Mr O'Farrell to solve a dispute with his employer, Wollongong Radio Cabs.

Ganiji told the Illawarra Mercury newspaper last year he was fined by the company for misusing his taxi radio by clicking the buttons unnecessarily, causing problems on the communications network.

He has been refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.

Police said investigations into the incident were continuing.

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Man refused bail for cold-case murder

THREE decades after Sydney nurse Mary Louise Wallace went missing, a 61-year-old man has been charged with her murder and refused bail.

Ms Wallace, 33, went missing from Sydney's north shore in the early hours of September 24, 1983.

On the night she disappeared Ms Wallace had dinner and drinks with nursing colleagues at the Alpine Inn, in Crows Nest.

A 2010 inquest into her death heard she was last seen getting into a car with a man.

Ms Wallace was never seen again, and her body was never found.

Following three decades of investigations, including a 2010 coronial inquest and excavations at Lane Cove National Park, Robert Adams was arrested on Friday at his Gladesville home and refused bail at Parramatta Local Court.

Detective Chief Inspector John Lehmann said the man was known to police and had been the subject of intensive investigation.

"The evidence against him is quite comprehensive, which we'll be putting before the court," Det Chief Insp Lehmann told reporters.

He said police would put physical, forensic and DNA evidence before the court as well as witness statements he labelled "very important to our brief of evidence".

Homicide Squad Detective Superintendent Michael Willing said on Friday that police would continue searching for Ms Wallace's body.

Det Chief Insp Lehmann said Ms Wallace's friends and family were glad to hear an arrest had been made.

"They're very pleased with the result. They know it's just the start of a long court process," he said.

He called the arrest a "credit to the investigators who have put in tireless hours and an enormous amount of effort and dedication to this particular case".

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Sisters cleared of fraud in UK Lawson case

TWO former personal assistants to Charles Saatchi and his ex-wife Nigella Lawson have been cleared of fraud.

The jury at Isleworth Crown Court, west London, found Italian sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo not guilty of a single count of fraud each.

It was alleged that between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2012, the women committed fraud by abusing their positions as PAs, using a company credit card for personal gain - and were accused of spending more than STG685,000 ($A1.27 million) on themselves.

Elisabetta, 41, sometimes referred to in court as Lisa, and Francesca, 35, both of Kensington Gardens Square, Bayswater, west London, had been accused of living the "high life".

The court heard they used credit cards loaned to them by the TV cook and her ex-husband Saatchi to buy designer goods from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood.

Francesca was accused of spending the largest amount on herself - a sum of STG580,000.

But the sisters insisted all of their purchases had been authorised.

And in a sensational twist their defence lawyers introduced allegations of drug-taking by Lawson and marital strife involving the celebrity couple.

It was claimed by the defence that there was a culture of secrecy within the high-profile couple's marriage and that the Grillo sisters were aware of Lawson's alleged drug use, while Saatchi was not.

The defence claimed that Elisabetta's knowledge of Lawson's supposed drug use materially affected the TV cook's attitude towards her spending.

After the three-week trial, the jury of seven men and five women rejected the prosecution's claims that the purchases on the cards had been unauthorised.

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Nigerian church bomber gets life in jail

A NIGERIAN court has sentenced the convicted participant of a 2011 Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church to life in prison.

At least 44 people died in the explosion.

The Federal High Court found Kabiru Sokoto guilty of terrorism and murder.

The state argued he had prior knowledge that the Boko Haram network planned to bomb St Theresa's church, just outside Abuja, Nigeria's capital, but failed to notify law enforcement officers.

Sokoto, who is also known as Kabiru Umar, pleaded not guilty and argued that the state did not provide evidence linking him to the bombing.

A car bomb exploded outside the church as worshippers came out of an early-morning service on Christmas Day in the first attacks targeting Christians by extremists staging an uprising in the northeast.

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Farmers clash with police in Greece

FARMERS from the island of Crete are clashing with police outside Greece's parliament as MPs prepare to vote on a new property tax that will extend the levy to include farms.

Hundreds of farmers took an overnight ferry to protest in Athens on Friday.

They hurled oranges at riot police and battered the shields police were holding with traditional shepherds' walking sticks.

The new tax is part of measures required under Greece's international bailout agreements.

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Kinnock's son plans to become UK MP

Street Watch: drug MDMA seized

A SECOND man has been charged after hundreds of MDMA tablets and a handgun were allegedly found at a Bringelly property earlier this month.

Bon Scott - the unseen footage

VIDEO, PICS: Unseen footage and photographs of Australian rocker Bon Scott performing with an Adelaide Hills band have emerged. WATCH HERE

Private school land grab

ELITE private schools are snapping up properties and turning themselves into Sydney's wealthiest landholders - despite still receiving government funding.

This IS the funniest video of 2013

A MONKEY in a snow suit, a scared boss and a terrible news anchor were among the nominees for this year's funniest video. But which was named the best by Jimmy Kimmel?

Robbie dishes on Leo sex scenes

MARGOT Robbie has admitted that her steamy sex scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio on-screen were actually "the least romantic thing."

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Merkel says EU must be ready for changes

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been sworn in to a third term as Germany's head of government. Source: AAP

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel says European Union members must be open to treaty changes to strengthen joint economic governance in the 28-nation bloc.

Merkel was speaking on Wednesday, a day after starting her third term as leader of Europe's biggest economy and ahead of a visit to Paris, followed by a two-day EU summit in Brussels.

She told parliament that the EU needs to work toward more centralised financial and economic governance, where members can be compelled to meet certain fiscal targets, even if this requires changes to key EU treaties.

"Since the Lisbon Treaty we have a situation in Europe where everyone says, 'we can develop everything but we can't change the treaties'," Merkel said.

"I don't think that we can build a truly functioning Europe that way."

French President Francois Hollande has rejected changing EU treaties, pushing for more pro-growth policies and less austerity within the existing European charters.

Other EU members are also sceptical about renegotiating treaties, which may require referendums, amid rising euroscepticism in many countries.

Merkel, making her case for evolving charters in the EU, said "we have a situation in Europe where Germany is often accused of resisting certain developments. This is not the case.

"We are among those who say that we must, if treaties are no longer sufficient, develop those treaties."

"Those who want more Europe must be ready for new rules on some competencies," she added.

Merkel was sworn in for a third term on Tuesday, almost three months after winning September 22 elections, leading a "grand coalition" with the centre-left Social Democrats.

Addressing the Bundestag legislature, Merkel said that her new government wants for Germany, as a founding member of the EU, to continue "to take a responsible role and one that promotes integration in Europe".

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Amnesty granted to Greenpeace Arctic 30

GREENPEACE'S Arctic 30 have expressed relief after the Russian parliament voted to grant them amnesty, the environmental organisation says.

Three months after 28 activists and two freelance journalists were arrested at an Arctic oil platform, the Duma has voted for an amendment that extends an amnesty decree.

The activists, who have been charged with hooliganism, are now waiting on a final vote to grant them freedom.

Greenpeace said it looked to be only a matter of time until they can return to their families.

"The legal proceedings against the Arctic 30 are now almost certain to come to an end and the 26 non-Russians will be free to return home to their families as soon as they are given exit visas by the Russian authorities," the organisation said in a statement.

Tasmanian activist Colin Russell and permanent Australian residents Alex Harris from Sydney and Jon Beauchamp from Adelaide have expressed relief at the vote.

"I know Colin Russell is desperate to get back to Tassie and return to a normal life after this extraordinary ordeal which has been so taxing for him, his wife Chrissie and daughter Maddy," Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner Reece Turner said on Wednesday.

Mr Turner said Ms Harris was looking forward to the simple things when she returns to Australia.

"When I was in St Petersburg recently I asked Alex Harris, who works in our office, what she was going to do first when she's back home in Australia.

"She said apart from seeing her friends and her dear cousin Gemma she was really looking forward to walking along Manly beach as a free woman."

The group of environmental activists were imprisoned in September after protesting against Russia's Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Arctic.

The captain of the Arctic Sunrise, Peter Willcox said he should never have been charged and jailed in the first place.

"We sailed north to bear witness to a profound environmental threat but our ship was stormed by masked men wielding knives and guns.

"Now its nearly over and we may soon be truly free. But there's no amnesty for the Arctic," he said in a statement.

Greenpeace said it was unclear when the non-Russians in the group, including Mr Russell, would be able to leave the country.

Earlier this month 26 of the activists from 17 nations had their passports returned to them but they do not have the correct visas to leave Russia.

Greenpeace said the campaign to free the Arctic 30 has involved 860 protests in 46 countries.

Meanwhile more than 2.6 million people wrote to Russian embassies, the organisation said.

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Two facing charges over fatal Vic attack

TWO men accused of attacking a 36-year-old man in Melbourne could be facing more serious charges after he died in hospital from his injuries.

Police had initially charged the pair with intentionally causing serious injury and other offences after finding a 36-year-old man had been brutally attacked in the streets of Fitzroy on Monday evening.

But the man died in hospital on Wednesday, leading homicide detectives to consider laying different charges.

"The charges are likely to be upgraded," a police spokeswoman said.

Narada Seresen, 35, of no fixed address, and Jasper Meagher, 26, of Carlton, will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday over the incident.

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Britain to move to plastic banknotes

PLASTIC bank notes are to be issued by the Bank of England for the first time when the new STG5 ($A9.19) note featuring Sir Winston Churchill appears in 2016.

A STG10 ($A18.39) note featuring Jane Austen to follow around a year later will also be made from polymer rather than the cotton paper currently used, the Bank said.

It follows a three-year research program that concluded plastic notes stay cleaner for longer, are more difficult to counterfeit and are at least twice as longer-lasting.

A public consultation across the UK, giving people the chance to handle the notes, found 87 per cent of 13,000 individuals who responded were in favour of polymer.

Bank governor Mark Carney said: "Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of bank note design to meet that objective.

"The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting, and they can be produced at a lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment."

The new notes will retain their familiar look, the Bank said, including the portrait of the Queen and a historical character.

Meanwhile, the Bank announced new guidelines on how it chooses historical figures to feature on bank notes, which include the aim that they should "reflect the diverse nature of British society".

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Saatchi assistant 'not a fantasist'

A FORMER personal assistant of Nigella Lawson and her art dealer ex-husband Charles Saatchi, who is accused of defrauding the couple, has denied she was a fantasist and a "shopaholic".

Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are alleged to have spent STG685,000 ($A1.26 million) on credit cards belonging to the TV cook and the multimillionaire Saatchi.

On Wednesday, the court heard that the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.

The younger sister was accused by prosecutor Jane Carpenter of lying about her expenditure on a work credit card having been authorised by Saatchi and Lawson, who divorced earlier this year.

"I haven't lied to this court," said Grillo. "I don't think I'm a fantasist as Ms Lawson suggested. I would have to disagree."

Carpenter said Grillo had admitted being a "shopaholic" in a phone call after the allegations of fraud came to light, but the defendant said of that claim: "I don't think so."

Addressing claims that she took advantage of her position and felt she was "on to a good thing", Grillo replied: "I didn't have to feel like I was part of a good thing.

"They were my family. I was very, very lucky. They loved me, I loved them back. Despite being here defending myself ... I still have feelings for them."

The seven men and five women on the jury were shown pages from Lawson's latest cookbook, Nigellissima, for which Grillo said she and her sister contributed a recipe for lasagne which was published.

"She refers to two friends from Calabria, or two sisters," added Grillo.

She claimed that during her trips to her native Italy while employed by the family, she would use the company card to buy food items and props for Lawson which were used in the book.

Asked why she offered to pay back money to the Saatchi-Lawson family when she was confronted with allegations of misusing the credit card, Grillo said she had hoped things would get back to normal.

She added: "It's difficult for people to understand how close I was to these people ... It's not like any person down the street. You want to make things better."

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Russia passes bill to drop crew's charges

RUSSIAN lawmakers have unanimously approved a Kremlin-backed amnesty bill that will lead to charges being dropped against 30 Greenpeace crew members, as well as freeing two jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot.

Russia's Duma lower house of parliament voted 446 in favour, to none against, for the amnesty, which commemorates 20 years since Russia ratified its current constitution.

It should also allow several anti-Vladimir Putin protesters, jailed after a May 2012 rally, to walk out of prison.

Greenpeace says that the legal proceedings against the 28 activists and two journalists are "almost certain to come to an end" and that the 26 non-Russians among them will be free to return home as soon as they get Russian exit visas.

Russia arrested 30 members of a Greenpeace ship in September, including an Australian and two permanent residents, for protesting against oil drilling in the Russian Arctic.

They were released last month, but remain under investigation on hooliganism charges.

Greenpeace lawyer Anton Beneslavsky said on Tuesday it was too early to say when the charges could be dropped, but that it "won't happen in the course of a day".

The amnesty's original draft only listed persons convicted of hooliganism as beneficiaries, but an amendment added on Wednesday extends that to defendants who have been charged.

Greenpeace says it's not yet clear when the group will be allowed home, or what will happen to its vessel the Arctic Sunrise, which remains impounded in Murmansk since the arrests.

Tasmanian activist Colin Russell and permanent Australian residents Alex Harris from Sydney and and Jon Beauchamp from Adelaide have expressed relief at the vote.

"I know Colin Russell is desperate to get back to Tassie and return to a normal life after this extraordinary ordeal which has been so taxing for him, his wife Chrissie and daughter Maddy," Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner Reece Turner said on Wednesday.

Another activist, Ana Paula Maciel from Brazil, says she's relieved, but not celebrating.

"I spent two months in jail for a crime I didn't commit and faced criminal charges that were nothing less than absurd, but now at last it seems like this saga could soon be over and it may not be long before we're back with our families," she said.

"Right now, my thoughts are with our Russian colleagues. If they accept this amnesty, they will have criminal records in the country where they live, and all for something they didn't do. All because we stood up for Arctic protection."

Arctic Sunrise captain Peter Wilcox, of the United States, said he should never have been charged.

"I might soon be going home to my family, but I should never have been charged and jailed in the first place.

"We sailed north to bear witness to a profound environmental threat but our ship was stormed by masked men wielding knives and guns.

"Now it's nearly over and we may soon be truly free, but there's no amnesty for the Arctic."

Irina Khrunova, the lawyer for imprisoned Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, said that she expects her clients to be released before the end of year, the Itar Tass news agency reported.

On Tuesday, Khrunova - as well as Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov - had said that they could be freed as early as Thursday.

The women are serving two-year sentences for performing a political protest song against President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church and are currently due to be released in March.

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Two stabbed in Sydney

TWO men are in hospital after being stabbed in what police believe are related incidents in Sydney's southwest.

Emergency services were called to Meredith Street in Bankstown at 9pm on Tuesday following reports of a stabbing.

A man, aged in his 20s, was taken to Liverpool Hospital with multiple stab wounds and in a serious condition.

At about the same time, an 18-year-old man arrived at Bankstown Hospital with a stab wound. He has since been transferred to Liverpool Hospital.

Police are investigating the incidents, and say they may be linked.

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'White powder in Nigella's handbag': PA

A London court has heard TV cook Nigella Lawson was unhappy in her marriage to Charles Saatchi. Source: AAP

NIGELLA Lawson's former personal assistant "frequently" found rolled-up banknotes with white powder on them in her handbag, she has told a court.

Francesca Grillo, who along with her sister Elisabetta is on trial accused of defrauding Lawson and former husband Charles Saatchi, said she never saw Lawson taking drugs although she did find evidence of drug use on many occasions.

She said she first saw the rolled-up notes at the food writer's Shepherd's Bush home, in the kitchen after a party and also in a guest bedroom.

One of her jobs as Ms Lawson's aide was to exchange items between her handbags, and she would find rolled-up banknotes in those, she told Isleworth Crown Court in west London on Tuesday.

Asked how often she found the banknotes, Grillo said: "Frequently. Every time I went through her handbag there was some notes. It was very frequent."

Asked if she ever raised the issue of drugs, she replied: "No. I didn't think it was my place."

Lawson would tell Francesca "you're good at finding things" and ask her to look for belongings in her handbags, the jury heard.

Lawson would sometimes come downstairs with white powder on her nose and Francesca would point it out to her, but would be told by the cook it was make-up.

Asked by defence counsel Karina Arden if the substance could have been make-up, Grillo replied: "Too white to be make-up."

She also noted that the TV cook often had a runny nose, the court heard.

Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are accused of defrauding the celebrity couple by spending 685,000 euros ($A1.06 million) on credit cards belonging to them.

The court has heard the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.

Francesca also recalled how she improvised an excuse to protect her employer when a child discovered a hollow book containing what the employee thought were drugs.

The defendant told the court: "She (the child) said 'Look what I found in (the) book!'.

"It was a small plastic bag with white powder. I made up something."

Grillo said the clandestine book also contained items of jewellery belonging to Lawson's late husband John Diamond.

She said she found cannabis in a child's room in the home, and the television cook would swig from bottles containing liquid medication.

She told the court: "Tazepam, Xanax ... Ms Lawson had medication for depression.

"She would take it directly from the bottle."

Asked by Arden how frequently she would see Lawson take medication in this way, Francesca said: "Very often. She had one bottle in the kitchen and one bottle in the bedroom."

She told the court she did not originally mention the alleged drug use in her first statement to police, but did so after photographs of Saatchi and Lawson at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair emerged in the press during the year.

"The one that stuck in my mind was the one of him picking her nose. Maybe he found something relating to drugs.

"I maybe thought if he didn't know that, he probably didn't know about the authorisation - the allowance - of the signatures (by Ms Lawson, on personal expenditure)."

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Syria peace talks to open in Montreux: UN

The UN has called for $US6.5 billion in aid for the expected 4.1 million Syrian refugees in 2014. Source: AAP

THE long-delayed "Geneva II" peace conference for Syria will open in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux because of a lack of hotel space in Geneva, the United Nations says.

"The international conference on Syria ... will be held due to logistical reasons ... in Montreux," said Khawla Mattar, spokeswoman for UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is trying to organise the conference.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month finally set January 22 as the date for the talks, which have been repeatedly postponed since June.

But a luxury watch fair will be taking place in Geneva at the same time.

The global elite will also begin gathering for the annual World Economic Forum that begins in the Swiss ski resort of Davos on January 22, many of them passing through Geneva.

As a result, the city's hotels are fully booked, leading organisers to look for alternatives.

Montreux was decided upon, Mattar said, for a variety of reasons, including security considerations and the availability of hotel space in the scenic town at the other end of Lake Geneva known for its jazz festival.

The conference centre at the Montreux Palace will only host the first day of high-level talks on January 22, hosted by Ban and including all invited country delegations.

Negotiations between the two Syrian delegations and Brahimi will then continue at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva on January 24, but it has not been decided how long the talks will continue, Mattar said.

Meanwhile, UN agencies have launched what they say is the biggest-ever relief appeal for a single emergency, as they called for $US6.5 billion ($A7.3 billion) in funds for Syrians in 2014.

The UN's humanitarian affairs and refugee agencies said on Monday that $US2.3 billion is needed to provide for people inside the war-torn country, with the remainder for Syrian refugees in the region.

"We're facing a terrifying situation here, where, by the end of 2014, substantially more of the population of Syria could be displaced or in need of humanitarian help than not," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in Geneva.

"This goes beyond anything we have seen in many, many years, and makes the need for a political solution all the greater."

The agencies warned that they were planning for up to 4.1 million refugees by the end of 2014 - of a total pre-war population of 22.4 million.

More than 2.3 million Syrians have so far fled the country since the conflict began in 2011, with more than four million estimated to be displaced inside its borders.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP), one of the bodies participating in the multi-agency plan, separately announced it would feed 4.25 million Syrians next year, at a cost of $US2 billion.

The WFP said almost 6.3 million people in the country needed "urgent, life-saving food assistance".

It pledged to focus on preventing child malnutrition, giving food supplements to 240,000 children aged 6 to 23 months.

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Knox 'afraid' to front Italian court

US murder suspect Amanda Knox has emailed an Italian court to say she is "afraid" to show up for her trial on charges of killing British student Meredith Kercher, judge Alessandro Nencini says.

Knox, who is a defendant, along with her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, is letting herself be tried in absentia.

She has signalled she would not return to Italy to serve her sentence if she is found guilty.

"I am not in the courtroom because I am afraid," Knox said in a message in Italian that was read out in court by Nencini on Tuesday.

"I am afraid that you will be influenced by the vehemency of the accusations, that you will be blinded by their smokescreens."

The judge dismissed Knox's email as "unorthodox" and said those who "want to speak at a trial should come to the trial".

He said lawyers for the defence vouched for the authenticity of the message.

Ms Kercher was 21 when she died.

She was found on November 2, 2007, half-naked and with multiple stab wounds, in the apartment she was sharing with Knox and two other female students in the central Italian university town of Perugia.

Knox and Sollecito were arrested days after the crime.

In 2009, they were jailed for 26 years and 25 years, respectively, after Perugia judges concluded in a first instance ruling that the pair, along with a third person, had killed Kercher during a group sex game.

They were acquitted in 2011 after an appeal court deemed incriminating DNA evidence to be unreliable.

Freed from prison, Knox returned to her home city of Seattle.

But the verdict was annulled in March by Italy's top appeals body, which ordered a retrial and moved proceedings from Perugia to Florence.

Judges are expected to issue a new ruling in January, but it could be appealed again.

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Helicopter maker issues safety alert

HELICOPTER manufacturer Eurocopter has issued a worldwide safety alert after a fault was found in the model of craft that crashed into a Glasgow pub, killing 10 people.

The company said there was a problem with the fuel indication system on some of its EC135 aircraft, the same type as the police helicopter involved in the Clutha bar tragedy in Glasgow last month.

Operator Bond Air Services temporarily suspended flights of its 22 EC135 helicopters last week after a fuel gauge fault was discovered on an air ambulance in the North West of England.

The suspension affected air ambulance and police helicopters across the UK, many of which have now resumed flights.

Eurocopter has now issued a safety information notice after tests revealed other aircraft may be affected by similar issues.

A statement said: "Eurocopter has been informed by Bond Air Services of an issue involving the fuel indication system experienced during normal operations by one of its EC135 EMS aircraft.

"Following this incident, fuel system functionality tests performed by Bond Air Services and two other EC135 operators in Europe have revealed possible similar supply-tank fuel gauging errors on some aircraft.

"This incident is currently under in-depth investigation by Eurocopter. The first analysis shows that the indication of the fuel quantity in the supply tanks could be over-estimated."

The safety notice warns crews that in the "worst case" scenario, a red low fuel warning could appear without any amber fuel caution beforehand.

In a statement, Bond said: "We note that Eurocopter has today issued a safety information notice to operators of the EC135 across the world confirming that some of their aircraft have a fault in the fuel indication and alert system which means that warning system may not work properly.

"This was a fault discovered by Bond during normal service operations on Wednesday 11th, which we immediately reported to Eurocopter and the appropriate authorities.

"We understand other operators have since conducted similar tests and found similar problems with their aircraft.

"As soon as we discovered this issue, in line with our commitment to the highest standards of safety, we took the prudent decision to temporarily suspend service operations whilst we conducted checks on our fleet of EC135s.

"The results of these tests were subsequently validated by Eurocopter, and appropriate repairs made before returning the aircraft to service."

The company said it had ordered that all its EC135s should have a minimum of 90kg of fuel on board at all times.

An initial report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) into the Glasgow crash said there was "no evidence of major mechanical disruption of either engine" of the Police Scotland helicopter.

In addition, the helicopter still had 95 litres of the 400kg of fuel that it had taken off with from Glasgow City Heliport.

The three people on board the Bond-operated aircraft and seven people in the pub died when it crashed on November 29.

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China zookeeper killed by tiger

A KEEPER at Shanghai's zoo has been mauled to death by a rare South China tiger after entering its enclosure, officials and colleagues say.

In brief statements on their Twitter-like microblogs, the zoo and Municipal Landscaping Administration said investigators were looking into the cause of the attack.

The administration said the tiger was a 9-year-old male with no prior record of aggression against people.

It said the attack occurred at the zoo's breeding facility where safety procedures are in place.

State media reports identified the victim as a 56-year-old man surnamed Zhou.

They cited unidentified colleagues as saying the man entered the tiger enclosure to clean it and "did not come out again".

The highly endangered South China tiger is considered effectively extinct in the wild after decades of being hunted as a pest.

Only a few are kept in zoos.

Built on a former golf course, Shanghai's zoo is one of China's largest and most popular urban animal parks.

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Fawcett auction items sell for $200,000

PERSONAL items belonging to late actress Farrah Fawcett have fetched $US200,000 ($A224,997.19) at auction.

Items including the iconic red swimsuit she wore for an Esquire magazine shoot, her passport, a script from her 1984 TV film The Burning Bed, and a People's Choice Award went under the hammer at Heritage Auctions in Dallas in Texas on Thursday.

Margaret Barrett, the director of entertainment and music auctions for Heritage, said: "The intense competition for Farrah's items in this auction speaks to how popular she continues to be with collectors."

In addition to Fawcett's belongings, the suit Gene Kelly got wet in 1952 movie Singin' in the Rain sold for just over $US106,000.

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NSW woman dies in single vehicle crash

A 45-YEAR-OLD woman has been killed in Sydney's west when the car she was driving crashed at Hassall Grove.

Police say the woman was driving along Luxford Road about 12.50am (AEDT) on Sunday when her car hit the gutter, before crashing through the guard rail and hitting an embankment.

Investigations are continuing and police will prepare a report for the coroner.

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Missing Qld man found after four days

A MAN who went missing for four days in southwest Queensland, sparking a massive air and land search, has been found.

Two aircraft, police and State Emergency Service volunteers helped search a property south of Quilpie after the man, in his 50s, was reported missing on Saturday morning.

But he had not been since Thursday, December 12, police said.

The man had been working on his property and went to check bores but did not return.

His bogged vehicle was found on a neighbouring property on Saturday.

Police said the man was found at 5.20pm on Sunday on a property near Eulo, in the area they'd been searching.

He was airlifted to Roma Hospital for treatment.

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Police assaulted at NSW soccer game

A POLICEMAN had to use "defensive strikes" to force a man to release his grip on his groin during a brawl at a Newcastle A-League soccer match.

Another police officer was punched in the head by another man in the melee, which saw a spectator punched in the face three times on Saturday night.

Police from the Public Order and Riot Squad and local officers were patrolling the match between the Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers at the Hunter Stadium when a fight broke out and objects were thrown at 9.40pm.

They say the crowd turned hostile towards them when they intervened.

During a scuffle, a 21-year-old man allegedly grabbed the policeman's groin and refused to let go.

The man, police say, had been hindering police when he was pushed out of the way and fell on the ground.

He was arrested and charged with assault police.

He will appear in Newcastle Local Court on January 16.

At the same match police spoke to three spectators who were allegedly causing trouble.

One man refused to follow a police direction to return his seat.

Police allege he punched another spectator in the face three times before turning on the officers who tried to arrest him.

The 41-year-old is accused of punching one officer in the side of the head.

He was charged with assault police and behave in an offensive manner.

He will also appear in Newcastle Local Court on Monday.

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NAB's business satisfaction rating falls

AUSTRALIA'S biggest business lender National Australia Bank has fallen further behind its big four rivals in business customer satisfaction.

NAB had an average satisfaction rating of 6.9 out of ten in November, well behind Commonwealth Bank (7.5), Westpac (7.4) and ANZ (7.3).

According to the monthly DBM Consultants' Business Financial Services Monitor, NAB's satisfaction rating went backwards in November, while ANZ, which had lagged alongside it for most of the past two years, continued to pull ahead.

DBM director Maria Claridad said ANZ achieved its highest ever average score in November and was well above the 6.9 it scored in April this year.

"What ANZ has been able to achieve in the past six months is great for their business and it has closed the gap on the two major banks that were well ahead of it,' she said.

She said the challenge now was for ANZ to sustain or improve on the customer satisfaction level.

The BFSM, which is based on interviews with 20,000 businesses a year, also showed the Commonwealth was the most popular bank among large and micro businesses, while Westpac lead among small and medium sized companies.

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Extreme fire danger in WA prompts bans

FIRE alerts ranging from severe to extreme for much of Western Australia have prompted total fire bans in many areas, including parts of the Goldfields-Midlands region.

With temperatures set to soar again on Monday, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has also issued a ban for parts of the Midwest Gascoyne region.

The DFES warned residents in the Central Wheatbelt and inland parts of the Great Southern and Central West they would be facing extreme fire danger, while those in the Gascoyne, Eucla, Pilbara, coastal parts of the Great Southern and the Upper Great Southern are facing severe fire danger.

On Sunday an emergency warning was downgraded to an advice alert for a bushfire four kilometres east of Toodyay.

The DFES said the blaze was contained and under control.

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